Social platform promotion system and method

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method, computer program product, and computing system for preparing a proposal for a client on a CRM platform, wherein the proposal identifies a defined contribution that will be made to a social platform on behalf of the client if the client accepts the proposal; and submitting the proposal to the client.

RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of the following U.S. ProvisionalApplication Nos.: 62/625,042, filed on 1 Feb. 2018; 62/625,080, filed on1 Feb. 2018; and 62/655,522 filed on 10 Apr. 2018; their entire contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to promotion systems and, more particularly, tosocial platform promotion system.

BACKGROUND

People are inherently good and want to help one another. Accordingly,there are a vast quantity of social platforms that are in the businessof serving the underserved for the general betterment of society.Unfortunately, it is often difficult to research such social platformsto gauge e.g., their legitimacy, their efficiency, and their successrecord.

Additionally, corporations are often conflicted between doing what isbest for society and doing what is best for the shareholders of thatcompany. For example, corporate contributions to such social platforms(while being for the betterment of society) may reduce corporate profitsand, therefore, reduce corporate share price. Further, institutionalinvestors may be reluctant to invest in companies that makecontributions to such social platforms due to the reduction inprofitability that often accompanies such contributions.

While an enlightened sense of investing (due to criteria such as ESGscores) may move investors towards such socially-conscious companies,there must be a better way to more actively encourage such investment.

SUMMARY OF DISCLOSURE

In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is executed on acomputing device and includes: preparing a proposal for a client on aCRM platform, wherein the proposal identifies a defined contributionthat will be made to a social platform on behalf of the client if theclient accepts the proposal; and submitting the proposal to the client.

One or more of the following features may be included. The definedcontribution may be a percentage of a purchase made by the client. Theclient may accept the proposal. The client may be enabled to select thesocial platform from a social platform pool. The social platform may befunded with the defined contribution. Funding the social platform withthe defined contribution may include funding the social platform withthe defined contribution at a gross revenue level using one or morefunding sources. The one or more funding sources may include one or moreof: a corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding source; and a salesincentive funding source. The social platform pool may define aplurality of prevetted social platforms. The social platform pool may bemaintained. The social platform pool may be maintained within a datastructure.

In another implementation, a computer program product resides on acomputer readable medium and has a plurality of instructions stored onit. When executed by a processor, the instructions cause the processorto perform operations including preparing a proposal for a client on aCRM platform, wherein the proposal identifies a defined contributionthat will be made to a social platform on behalf of the client if theclient accepts the proposal; and submitting the proposal to the client.

One or more of the following features may be included. The definedcontribution may be a percentage of a purchase made by the client. Theclient may accept the proposal. The client may be enabled to select thesocial platform from a social platform pool. The social platform may befunded with the defined contribution. Funding the social platform withthe defined contribution may include funding the social platform withthe defined contribution at a gross revenue level using one or morefunding sources. The one or more funding sources may include one or moreof: a corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding source; and a salesincentive funding source. The social platform pool may define aplurality of prevetted social platforms. The social platform pool may bemaintained. The social platform pool may be maintained within a datastructure.

In another implementation, a computing system includes a processor andmemory is configured to perform operations including preparing aproposal for a client on a CRM platform, wherein the proposal identifiesa defined contribution that will be made to a social platform on behalfof the client if the client accepts the proposal; and submitting theproposal to the client.

One or more of the following features may be included. The definedcontribution may be a percentage of a purchase made by the client. Theclient may accept the proposal. The client may be enabled to select thesocial platform from a social platform pool. The social platform may befunded with the defined contribution. Funding the social platform withthe defined contribution may include funding the social platform withthe defined contribution at a gross revenue level using one or morefunding sources. The one or more funding sources may include one or moreof: a corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding source; and a salesincentive funding source. The social platform pool may define aplurality of prevetted social platforms. The social platform pool may bemaintained. The social platform pool may be maintained within a datastructure.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features andadvantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings, andthe claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a distributed computing networkincluding a computing device that executes a social platform promotionprocess according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of one implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 15A is a diagrammatic view of the social platform promotion processof FIG. 1 incorporated into a CRM platform according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 15B is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 15A according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 16A is a diagrammatic view of the social platform promotion processof FIG. 1 incorporated into a procurement platform according to anembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 16B is a flowchart of another implementation of the social platformpromotion process of FIG. 16A according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS System Overview

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown social platform promotion process10. Social platform promotion process 10 may be implemented as aserver-side process, a client-side process, or a hybridserver-side/client-side process. For example, social platform promotionprocess 10 may be implemented as a purely server-side process via socialplatform promotion process 10 s. Alternatively, social platformpromotion process 10 may be implemented as a purely client-side processvia one or more of social platform promotion process 10 c 1, socialplatform promotion process 10 c 2, social platform promotion process 10c 3, and social platform promotion process 10 c 4. Alternatively still,social platform promotion process 10 may be implemented as a hybridserver-side/client-side process via social platform promotion process 10s in combination with one or more of social platform promotion process10 c 1, social platform promotion process 10 c 2, social platformpromotion process 10 c 3, and social platform promotion process 10 c 4.Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 as used in thisdisclosure may include any combination of social platform promotionprocess 10 s, social platform promotion process 10 c 1, social platformpromotion process 10 c 2, social platform promotion process 10 c 3, andsocial platform promotion process 10 c 4.

Social platform promotion process 10 s may be a server application andmay reside on and may be executed by computing device 12, which may beconnected to network 14 (e.g., the Internet or a local area network).Examples of computing device 12 may include, but are not limited to: apersonal computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, adata-enabled cellular telephone, a notebook computer, a television withone or more processors embedded therein or coupled thereto, acable/satellite receiver with one or more processors embedded therein orcoupled thereto, a server computer, a series of server computers, a minicomputer, a mainframe computer, or a cloud-based computing network.

The instruction sets and subroutines of social platform promotionprocess 10 s, which may be stored on storage device 16 coupled tocomputing device 12, may be executed by one or more processors (notshown) and one or more memory architectures (not shown) included withincomputing device 12. Examples of storage device 16 may include but arenot limited to: a hard disk drive; a RAID device; a random access memory(RAM); a read-only memory (ROM); and all forms of flash memory storagedevices.

Network 14 may be connected to one or more secondary networks (e.g.,network 18), examples of which may include but are not limited to: alocal area network; a wide area network; or an intranet, for example.

Examples of social platform promotion processes 10 c 1, 10 c 2, 10 c 3,10 c 4 may include but are not limited to a web browser, a userinterface, or a specialized application (e.g., an application running one.g., the Android™ platform or the iOS™ platform). The instruction setsand subroutines of social platform promotion processes 10 c 1, 10 c 2,10 c 3, 10 c 4, which may be stored on storage devices 20, 22, 24, 26(respectively) coupled to client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34(respectively), may be executed by one or more processors (not shown)and one or more memory architectures (not shown) incorporated intoclient electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34 (respectively). Examples ofstorage device 16 may include but are not limited to: a hard disk drive;a RAID device; a random access memory (RAM); a read-only memory (ROM);and all forms of flash memory storage devices.

Examples of client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34 may include, butare not limited to, data-enabled, cellular telephone 28, laptop computer30, personal digital assistant 32, personal computer 34, a notebookcomputer (not shown), a server computer (not shown), a gaming console(not shown), a smart television (not shown), and a dedicated networkdevice (not shown). Client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34 may eachexecute an operating system, examples of which may include but are notlimited to Microsoft Windows™, Android™, WebOS™, iOS™, Redhat Linux™, ora custom operating system.

Clients 36, 38, 40, 42 may access social platform promotion process 10directly through network 14 or through secondary network 18. Further,social platform promotion process 10 may be connected to network 14through secondary network 18, as illustrated with link line 44.

The various client electronic devices (e.g., client electronic devices28, 30, 32, 34) may be directly or indirectly coupled to network 14 (ornetwork 18). For example, data-enabled, cellular telephone 28 and laptopcomputer 30 are shown wirelessly coupled to network 14 via wirelesscommunication channels 46, 48 (respectively) established betweendata-enabled, cellular telephone 28, laptop computer 30 (respectively)and cellular network/bridge 50, which is shown directly coupled tonetwork 14. Further, personal digital assistant 32 is shown wirelesslycoupled to network 14 via wireless communication channel 52 establishedbetween personal digital assistant 32 and wireless access point (i.e.,WAP) 54, which is shown directly coupled to network 14. Additionally,personal computer 34 is shown directly coupled to network 18 via ahardwired network connection.

WAP 54 may be, for example, an IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n,Wi-Fi, and/or Bluetooth device that is capable of establishing wirelesscommunication channel 52 between personal digital assistant 32 and WAP54. As is known in the art, IEEE 802.11x specifications may use Ethernetprotocol and carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance(i.e., CSMA/CA) for path sharing. The various 802.11x specifications mayuse phase-shift keying (i.e., PSK) modulation or complementary codekeying (i.e., CCK) modulation, for example. As is known in the art,Bluetooth is a telecommunications industry specification that allowse.g., mobile phones, computers, and personal digital assistants to beinterconnected using a short-range wireless connection.

The Social Platform Promotion Process

Referring also to FIG. 2, social platform promotion process 10 may beconfigured to define and maintain 100 social platform pool 56. Forexample, social platform pool 56 may be maintained 100 within a datastructure (e.g., storage device 16 coupled to computing device 12).Accordingly, storage device 16 may include a database (not shown) withinwhich social platform pool 56 may be defined and maintained 100.

As will be explained below in greater detail, through the use of socialplatform promotion process 10, clients may review the various socialplatforms (defined within social platform pool 56) and choose one ormore of these social platforms for funding. Further and as will bediscussed below in greater detail, clients may receive recommendationsfrom social platform promotion process 10 concerning the various socialplatforms (defined within social platform pool 56) that the client mayconsider funding.

Defining the Social Platform Pool

Accordingly and through the use of social platform promotion process 10,the various social platforms (e.g. charities, environmentalorganizations, equality organizations, inclusion organizations, veteransorganizations, civil rights organizations, constitutional rightsorganizations, and poverty alleviation organizations) may utilize socialplatform promotion process 10 to seek inclusion within social platformpool 56. Once included within social platform pool 56, clients of socialplatform promotion process 10 may have their “social standing” analyzedso that strengths and weaknesses within the same may be identified. Oncethe strengths and weaknesses within a client's “social standing” areidentified, social platform promotion process 10 may providerecommendations to the client concerning how they may enhance their“social standing”. For example, social platform promotion process 10 mayrecommend that the client contribute to one or more social platforms toaddress one or more identified weaknesses in their “social standing”.Additionally/alternatively, social platform promotion process 10 mayrecommend that the client contribute to one or more social platforms tofurther bolster one or more identified strengths in their “socialstanding”.

Populating the Prevetted Pool

As will be discussed below in greater detail, social platform promotionprocess 10 may be configured to vet each social platform prior toallowing a social platform to be included within social platform pool56, thus resulting in social platform pool 56 defining plurality ofprevetted social platforms 58.

Assume for illustrative purposes that client 40 is involved with socialplatform 60 (e.g. Baja Plastics), which is an environmental socialplatform that recovers water-born plastics from the ocean so that suchrecovered plastic may be recycled. Accordingly, social platform 60 mayachieve two goals, namely: a) the removal of plastic from the ocean; andb) the recycling of such removed plastic. Further, assume that socialplatform 60 would like to be included within social platform pool 56 sothat clients of social platform promotion process 10 may learn aboutsocial platform 60 and (hopefully) contribute to the same. Accordingly,social platform 60 may prepare inclusion request 62 that may besubmitted to social platform promotion process 10 so that socialplatform 60 may be added to (and thus included within) social platformpool 56.

Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may receive 102 aninclusion request (e.g., inclusion request 62) for including a potentialsocial platform (e.g., social platform 60) within a social platform pool(e.g., social platform pool 56). Upon receiving 102 inclusion request62, social platform promotion process 10 may vet 104 the potentialsocial platform (e.g., social platform 60) to determine whether thepotential social platform (e.g., social platform 60) is eligible forinclusion within the social platform pool (e.g., social platform pool56).

As is known in the art, vetting is the process of performing anextensive background check on a person or an entity prior to theoccurrence of an event. Accordingly and through the use of such vetting104 prior to including a social platform within social platform pool 56,social platform promotion process 10 may ensure that the socialplatforms included within social platform pool 56 are of the highestquality and integrity.

When vetting 104 the potential social platform (e.g., social platform60) to determine whether the potential social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60) is eligible for inclusion within social platform pool 56,social platform promotion process 10 may e.g., research 106 thepotential social platform (e.g., social platform 60); audit 108 thepotential social platform (e.g., social platform 60); and/or interview110 the potential social platform (e.g., social platform 60).

For example and through the use of automated and/or manualmethodologies, the integrity of the potential social platform (e.g.,social platform 60) may be analyzed by e.g., performing online researchconcerning the potential social platform (e.g., social platform 60);analyzing one or more financial documents concerning the potentialsocial platform (e.g., social platform 60); performing one or moreinterviews with representatives of the potential social platform (e.g.,social platform 60); performing one or more interviews withthird-parties concerning the potential social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60); having the potential social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60) populate an application that provides data to socialplatform promotion process 10; and employing a third-party to performresearch on the potential social platform (e.g., social platform 60).

While the preceding list of vetting methodologies is intended to beillustrative, it is not intended to be all-inclusive, as othermethodologies are possible and are considered to be within the scope ofthis disclosure. Accordingly and with respect to this disclosure, it isunderstood that social platform promotion process 10 may utilizeadditional/alternative vetting methodologies.

Once the vetting 104 of the potential social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60) is completed, social platform promotion process 10 mayeither accept 112 or reject 114 the potential social platform (e.g.,social platform 60) for inclusion within social platform pool 56.

For example, social platform promotion process 10 may accept 112 thepotential social platform (e.g., social platform 60) for inclusionwithin social platform pool 56 if it is determined (e.g., via thevetting process) that the potential social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60) is eligible for inclusion within social platform pool 56(e.g., due to high levels of integrity/efficiency/advocacy). Accordinglyand in the event that the above-described vetting methodologies provesocial platform 62 to be a social platform worthy of inclusion withinsocial platform pool 56, social platform promotion process 10 may accept112 social platform 60 for inclusion within social platform pool 56,which may include adding 116 social platform 60 to social platform pool56.

Conversely, social platform promotion process 10 may reject 114 thepotential social platform (e.g., social platform 60) for inclusionwithin social platform pool 56 if it is determined (e.g., via thevetting process) that the potential social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60) is ineligible for inclusion within social platform pool 56(e.g., due to questionable levels of integrity/efficiency/advocacy). Forexample and if it is determined through the above-described vettingprocess that social platform 60 has questionable operating procedures,social platform promotion process 10 may reject 114 social platform 60for inclusion within social platform pool 56.

Enhancing the Social Platform Pool

Once the various social platforms are admitted to social platform pool56, social platform promotion process 10 may be configured to gatheradditional information concerning these social platforms, wherein suchinformation may allow clients of social platform promotion process 10 toreview these social platforms and decide which (if any) they would liketo make a contribution to.

Impact Multiplier

One such piece of information that social platform promotion process 10may examine with respect to the social platforms included within socialplatform pool 56 is the general level of efficiency of such socialplatform. Specifically, how well do the results achieved by the socialplatform track with the contributions received by the social platform.For example, a social platform that produces $150 worth of results witha $100 contribution is substantially more efficient than a socialplatform that produces $50 worth of results for the same $100contribution.

Accordingly and referring also to FIG. 3, social platform promotionprocess 10 may identify 150 a social platform for such efficiencyanalysis (from the various social platforms that is included withinsocial platform pool 56) and may obtain 152 one or more efficiency datapoints concerning the social platform.

For this example, assume that social platform 64 within social platformpool 56 is a social platform that installs solar panels on the roofs ofhouses owned by low income families. Further, assume that socialplatform promotion process 10 identifies 150 social platform 64 (fromthe social platforms included within social platform pool 56) for suchefficiency analysis and obtains 152 one or more efficiency data pointsconcerning social platform 64. As discussed above, social platform pool56 may be maintained 100 by social platform promotion process 10 and maydefine plurality of prevetted social platforms 58.

As will be discussed below in greater detail, examples of suchefficiency data points obtained 152 by social platform promotion process10 may include but are not limited to one or more of: an employment datapoint; a training data point; a social dependency data point; a taxrevenue data point; and a project efficiency data point.

Assume that social platform 64 is highly efficient and has minimaloverhead/operating costs, resulting in 92% of all contributions beingutilized for the project itself. Accordingly and for every $100,000contribution, $92,000 in goods/services are provided (i.e., a projectefficiency data point). Further assume that social platform 64 iscommitted to hiring qualified people that are currently unemployed to dothe solar panel installation (i.e., therefore, reducing localunemployment and providing technology-based job-training). Accordingly,assume that it is determined that for each $100,000 contribution, tenpreviously unemployed people will be gainfully employed for two months(i.e., an employment data point). Therefore, social dependency costs(e.g., welfare, unemployment, food stamps, and various subsidies) may beeliminated. Assume for this example that these costs are estimated to be$2000 per month per employee (resulting in a social dependency datapoint showing a $40,000 reduction in social dependency costs).Additionally, assume for this example that each of these ten employeeswill be paying $1000 in federal/state/local income taxes during theiremployment (resulting in a tax revenue data point showing a $10,000increase in tax revenue). Additionally, assume that each of these tenemployees will receive approximately $5000 worth of training inelectrical circuitry and renewable energy systems (resulting in atraining data point showing $50,000 of job-training training).Accordingly, it appears that for every $100,000 contribution to socialplatform 64, $192,000 worth of goods/services are provided (i.e.,$92,000+$40,000+$10,000+$50,000).

Social platform promotion process 10 may then process 154 theseefficiency data points (e.g., the employment data point of ten new jobs;the training data point of $50,000; the social dependency data point of$40,000; the tax revenue data point of $10,000; and the projectefficiency data point of $92,000) to generate a value impact multiplierfor social platform 64 of 1.92×(or 192%), wherein every $1.00 ofcontribution to social platform 64 results in $1.92 being given back(i.e., provided to the community). Additionally, it is understood thatsuch an impact multiplier may not take into account various intangiblesthat are not easily quantified. For example, an increase in employmentmay result in a decrease in crime (due to a reduction in desperation andan infusion of hope). Further, the installation of such solar panels mayresult in a reduced reliance on fossil fuels, a reduction in greenhousegas emissions and the various benefits resulting therefrom.

Once the above-described value impact multiplier is generated, socialplatform promotion process 10 may identify 156 a defined contributionfor the social platform (e.g., social platform 64) and may define 158 arealized value for the social platform (e.g., social platform 64) based,at least in part, upon the value impact multiplier and the definedcontribution. For example, social platform promotion process 10 mayidentify 156 a defined contribution of $100,000 with respect to socialplatform 64 wherein social platform promotion process 10 may then define158 a realized value of $192,000 (i.e., $100,000×1.92) for socialplatform 64, thus allowing social platform promotion process 10 toillustrate the comparative effectiveness/efficiency of social platform64 using a generalized defined contribution of $100,000. As would beexpected, this $100,000 defined contribution is for illustrativepurposes only and is not intended to be a limitation of this disclosure,as other configurations are possible. For example, the definedcontribution may always be identified 156 as $1.00, wherein socialplatform promotion process 10 may define 158 a realized value of $1.92for each $1.00 of contribution.

Social Platform Tagging

As will be discussed below in greater detail, social platform promotionprocess 10 may be configured to allow clients to search social platformpool 56 to identify one or more social platforms (defined within socialplatform pool 56) that may be of interest to the client for variousreasons. Accordingly and to enable a more efficient search, each of thesocial platforms included within social platform pool 56 may be “tagged”to define/categorize them.

Referring also to FIG. 4 and as discussed above, social platform pool 56may be maintained 100 by social platform promotion process 10 (e.g.,within a data structure such as storage device 16 coupled to computingdevice 12). Further and as discussed above, social platform promotionprocess 10 may define 200 a plurality of social platforms (e.g.,plurality of social platforms 58) within social platform pool 56,wherein plurality of social platforms 58 defined within social platformpool 56 may be a plurality of prevetted social platforms (e.g., vettedin the manner discussed above).

In order to provide a level of exclusivity with respect to the socialplatforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58) defined within socialplatform pool 56, this plurality of prevetted social platforms (e.g.,plurality of social platforms 58) may include one or more contract-boundprevetted social platforms and/or one or more license-bound prevettedsocial platforms.

For example, some or all of plurality of social platforms 58 may beunder contract with the owner/assignee/licensee of social platformpromotion process 10, thus allowing social platform promotion process 10to provide to its clients exclusive access to one or more of pluralityof social platforms 58. As would be expected, various types of contractsmay be utilized to associate some or all of plurality of socialplatforms 58 with social platform promotion process 10, examples ofwhich may include but are not limited to long-term contracts, short-termcontracts, perpetual contracts, auto-renewing contracts, andrenegotiable contracts.

Further, some or all of plurality of social platforms 58 may be underlicense with the owner/assignee/licensee of social platform promotionprocess 10, thus allowing social platform promotion process 10 toprovide to its clients exclusive access to one or more of plurality ofsocial platforms 58. As would be expected, various types of licenses maybe utilized to associate some or all of plurality of social platforms 58with social platform promotion process 10, examples of which may includebut are not limited to long-term licenses, short-term licenses,perpetual licenses, auto-renewing licenses, and renegotiable licenses.

Social platform promotion process 10 may associate 202 each of theplurality of social platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58)with one or more responsibility descriptors, chosen from aresponsibility descriptor pool (e.g., responsibility descriptor pool66). The one or more responsibility descriptors (that are associated 202with a social platform and are defined within responsibility descriptorpool 66) may identify one or more portions of a responsibility scorethat may be positively impacted when a contribution is made to theassociated social platform.

As is used in this document and as is known in the art, a responsibilityscore may define the manner in which a client (e.g. a corporation orbusiness entity) is viewed with respect to their social responsibility.For example, a current responsibility score associated with the clientmay include one or more of: an environmental score; a social score; anda governance score. One example of such a responsibility score is an ESGscore. As is known in the art, an ESG score is defined using various ESGscoring criteria.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria is a set ofstandards for a company's operations that socially conscious investorsuse to screen potential investments. Environmental criteria look at howa company performs as a steward of the natural environment. Socialcriteria examine how a company manages relationships with its employees,suppliers, customers and the communities where it operates. Governancedeals with a company's leadership, executive pay, audits, internalcontrols and shareholder rights.

Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria refer tothree main factors investors consider with regards to a firm's ethicalimpact and sustainable practices. The criteria are used in ESGinvesting, also sometimes referred to as sustainable, responsible andimpact investing or socially responsible investing. Examples of ESGcriteria used by investors include determining a company's impact onclimate change or carbon emissions, water use or conservation efforts,anti-corruption policies, board diversity, human rights efforts andcommunity development.

Investors who want to purchase securities that have been screened forESG criteria can do so through socially responsible mutual funds andexchange-traded funds. According to the US SIF Foundation, the value ofESG funds totaled more than $2.5 trillion by the end of 2016, while U.S.investments in companies that actively pursue responsible, sustainablegrowth accounted for about $8.7 trillion in assets under management(AUM) at the end of 2015.

What constitutes an acceptable set of ESG criteria is subjective, soinvestors will need to do the research to find investments that matchtheir own values. Apart from the ethical component, ESG standards aredeveloped to help investors avoid firms at risk of suffering tangiblelosses as a result of their ESG practices as evidenced by BP's 2010 oilspill and Volkswagen's emissions scandal, both of which rocked thefirms' stock prices and resulted in billions of dollars in associatedlosses.

Environmental criteria may look at a company's energy use, waste,pollution, natural resource conservation and animal treatment. They alsoevaluate which environmental risks might affect a company's income andhow the company is managing those risks. For example, a company mightface environmental risks related to its ownership of contaminated land,its disposal of hazardous waste, its management of toxic emissions orits compliance with the government's environmental regulations.

Social criteria may look at the company's business relationships. Doesit work with suppliers that hold the same values that the company claimsto hold? Does the company donate a percentage of its profits to thecommunity or perform volunteer work? Do the company's working conditionsshow a high regard for its employees' health and safety? Arestakeholders' interests taken into consideration?

With regard to governance, investors may want to know that a companyuses accurate and transparent accounting methods, and they want to seethat common stockholders are allowed to vote on important issues. Theyalso want companies to avoid conflicts of interest in their choice ofboard members. Finally, they prefer not to invest in companies thatengage in illegal behavior or use political contributions to obtainfavorable treatment.

While the above description of ESG criteria may define an example ofwhat may makeup all or portion of a responsibility score, this is forillustrative purposes only and is not intended to be a limitation ofthis disclosure. Accordingly, it is understood that other criteria maybe considered when defining the responsibility score for a client (e.g.,a corporation or business entity). Additionally, some or all of the ESGcriteria may be ignored/disregarded when defining the responsibilityscore for a client (e.g., a corporation or business entity). Accordinglyit is understood that (as used in this document) a responsibility scoreis intended to mean a score that relates to the manner in which a clientmay be viewed with respect to their social responsibility.

As discussed above, assume that social platform 64 within socialplatform pool 56 is a social platform that installs solar panels on theroofs of houses owned by low income families. Further as discussedabove, social platform 64 may have a positive impact with respect toemployment, job training, social dependency, and tax revenue.Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may associate 202 fourresponsibility descriptors (namely employment, job training, socialdependency, and tax revenue) with social platform 64 (wherein these fourresponsibility descriptors were chosen from responsibility descriptorpool 66). It is understood that these responsibility descriptors are forillustrative purposes only and are not intended to be a limitation ofthis disclosure, as other configurations are possible. For example, thegranularity of such responsibility descriptors may be increased ordecreased depending upon the design criteria of social platformpromotion process 10. Additionally, other responsibility descriptors maybe added to and/or removed from responsibility descriptor pool 66. Forexample, other responsibility descriptors that may be associated withsocial platform 64 may include: reduced carbon emissions, greenhouse gasreduction, and green power (due to social platform 64 installing solarcells); poverty reduction (due to social platform 64 providing servicesto low income homeowners); and environmental stewardship (due to socialplatform 64 achieving a high level of efficiency for a green energyproject).

Searching the Social Platform Pool

As discussed above, social platform pool 56 may be maintained 100 bysocial platform promotion process 10 (e.g., within a data structure suchas storage device 16 coupled to computing device 12). Further and asdiscussed above, social platform promotion process 10 may define 200 aplurality of social platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58)within social platform pool 56, wherein plurality of social platforms 58defined within social platform pool 56 may be a plurality of prevettedsocial platforms (e.g., vetted in the manner discussed above

Accordingly, one or more clients of social platform promotion process 10may search social platform pool 56 in order to identify one or moresocial platforms to which they would like to make a contribution. Forexample, assume that client 38 is a CSR manager for fast foodcorporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers). Further assume that client 38 usessocial platform promotion process 10 to identify one or more socialplatforms to which the fast food corporation 68 may wish to make acontribution. As is known in the art, a CSR manager of a company mayhave the job of predicting social and environmental risks that thecompany may face in the future (and making corporate decisions that maymitigate such social and environmental risks and bolster thecorporations perceived social responsibility. Accordingly and in such asituation, client 38 (a CSR manager) may utilize social platformpromotion process 10 to identify one or more social platforms to whichfast food corporation 68 may make contributions to better theirperceived social responsibility.

Proactive Searching of Pool

Accordingly in continuing with the above stated example, assume thatclient 38 initiates an inquiry with respect to social platform pool 56.Further assume that, as the CSR manager for fast food corporation 68,client 38 is cognizant of the fact that fast food corporations typicallyhave perceived issues (with respect to responsibility scores) in areassuch as: childhood obesity (due to the high level of calories includedwithin fast food); single-use plastics (due to the use of Styrofoamcontainers and plastic drinking straws); and greenhouse gas emissions(due to the environmental concerns with raising cattle). Accordingly,assume for this illustrative example that client 38 is interested inidentifying social platforms that may address the concerns of fast foodcorporation 68 with respect to childhood obesity, single-use plasticsand greenhouse gas emissions.

Accordingly, client 38 may generate social platform inquiry 70 that maybe provided to social platform promotion process 10.

Referring also to FIG. 5, social platform promotion process 10 mayreceive 250 a social platform inquiry (e.g., social platform inquiry 70)from a client (e.g. client 38), wherein social platform promotionprocess 10 may execute 252 the social platform inquiry (e.g., socialplatform inquiry 70) on social platform pool 56 to generate a result set(e.g., result set 72), which may be provided 254 to the client (e.g.,client 38). Result set 72 may be chosen from the plurality of prevettedsocial platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58).

As discussed above, in order to provide a level of exclusivity withrespect to the social platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58)defined within social platform pool 56, this plurality of prevettedsocial platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58) may includeone or more contract-bound prevetted social platforms and/or one or morelicense-bound prevetted social platforms.

As discussed above, social platform promotion process 10 may associate202 each of the plurality of social platforms (e.g., plurality of socialplatforms 58) included within social platform pool with one or moreresponsibility descriptors (chosen from responsibility descriptor pool66), wherein these responsibility descriptors may identify one or moreportions of a responsibility score that may be positively impacted whena contribution is made to the associated social platform.

Accordingly, result set 72 may identify six social platforms that client38 (the CSR manager of fast food corporation 68) may be interested inmaking a contribution to (namely two social platforms that combatchildhood obesity, two social platforms that address single-useplastics, and two social platforms that address greenhouse gasemissions). Specifically, these six social platforms may be includedwithin result set 72 because they include responsibility descriptorsthat correspond with the issues facing the fast food industry, namelychildhood obesity, single-use plastics, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Reactive Searching of the Pool

While the above-described example concerned a situation in which client38 was cognizant of the fact that fast food corporations typically haveperceived issues in areas of e.g., childhood obesity; single-useplastics; and greenhouse gas emissions, this example was forillustrative purposes only and is not intended to be a limitation ofthis disclosure, as other configurations are possible. For example,social platform promotion process 10 may be configured to reactivelysearch social platform pool 56 in response to a client engaging socialplatform promotion process 10.

Accordingly, assume for this illustrative example that client 38 is notaware (or only somewhat aware) of the manner in fast food corporationsare perceived with respect to their social responsibility. Assume thatclient 38 utilizes social platform promotion process 10 to identify theissues that fast food corporation 68 may specifically have with respectto their perceived social responsibility. Accordingly, client 38 mayvisit e.g. a website/portal operated by social platform promotionprocess 10 that may allow client 38 to identify themselves as a businessentity (e.g. fast food corporation 68, namely ABC Burgers), whereinclient 38 may request that social platform promotion process 10 makerecommendations concerning one or more social platforms to which fastfood corporation 68 may wish to make contributions. Accordingly, theseactions may result in the generation of social platform inquiry 70 thatmay be provided to social platform promotion process 10.

Referring also to FIG. 6, social platform promotion process 10 mayreceive 250 the social platform inquiry (e.g., social platform inquiry70) from a client (e.g. client 38) and may analyze 300 a currentresponsibility score (e.g., current responsibility score 74) associatedwith the client (e.g., client 38, the CSR manager of fast foodcorporation 68).

As discussed above and as used in this document, a responsibility score(e.g., current responsibility score 74) may define the manner in which aclient (e.g. fast food corporation 68) is currently viewed with respectto their social responsibility, wherein a responsibility score (e.g.,current responsibility score 74) associated with the client (e.g. fastfood corporation 68) may include one or more of: an environmental score;a social score; and a governance score.

The responsibility score (e.g., current responsibility score 74)associated with the client (e.g. fast food corporation 68) need not beorganically generated/maintained by social platform promotion process 10and may be obtained 302 from a third party (e.g., third-party 76).Examples of third-party 76 may include but is not limited to one or morerating agencies such as MSCI, Thomson-Reuters, and Sustainalytics.

Once obtained 302 (if it needs to be obtained), social platformpromotion process 10 may analyze 300 the current responsibility score(e.g., current responsibility score 74) associated with the client(e.g., client 38) and may recommend 304 one or more social platformsbased, at least in part, upon the current responsibility score (e.g.,current responsibility score 74) associated with the client (e.g. client38).

Upon making the above-described recommendations, social platformpromotion process 10 may generate a result set (e.g., result set 72),which (as discussed above) may be provided 254 to the client (e.g.,client 38). Result set 72 may define one or more social platforms thatmay be chosen from the plurality of prevetted social platforms (e.g.,plurality of social platforms 58) defined within social platform pool56. As discussed above, social platform pool 56 may be maintained 100 bysocial platform promotion process 10 (e.g., within a data structure suchas storage device 16 coupled to computing device 12).

As discussed above, social platform promotion process 10 may associate202 each of the plurality of social platforms (e.g., plurality of socialplatforms 58) included within social platform pool 56 with one or moreresponsibility descriptors (chosen from responsibility descriptor pool66), wherein these responsibility descriptors may identify one or moreportions of a responsibility score that may be positively impacted whena contribution is made to the associated social platform.

Assume that, upon social platform promotion process 10 analyzing 300 thecurrent responsibility score 74 associated with client 38, socialplatform promotion process 10 determines that fast food corporation 68is perceived as having poor social responsibility with respect to thesame three issue discussed above (childhood obesity; single-useplastics; and greenhouse gas emissions). Accordingly and in thisexample, social platform promotion process 10 may define 306 one or morescore conditions of the client (e.g., client 38) based, at least inpart, upon current responsibility score 74. Assume for this example thatsocial platform process 10 defines 306 three conditions (e.g., achildhood obesity deficiency; a single-use plastics deficiency; andgreenhouse gas emissions deficiency) within responsibility score 74 ofclient 38.

Continuing with the example in which three conditions were defined withrespect to current responsibility score 74 of client 38, whenrecommending 304 one or more social platforms based, at least in part,upon the current responsibility score (e.g., current responsibilityscore 74) associated with the client (e.g. client 38), social platformpromotion process 10 may recommend 308 one or more social platformsbased, at least in part, upon the one or more score conditions (e.g., achildhood obesity deficiency; a single-use plastics deficiency; andgreenhouse gas emissions deficiency). Specifically, social platformpromotion process 10 may determine which of the social platforms definedwithin social platform pool 56 include responsibility descriptors thatare associated with e.g., childhood obesity; single-use plastics; andgreenhouse gas emissions and may recommend 308 those social platforms.

Further and when recommending 304 one or more social platforms based, atleast in part, upon the current responsibility score (e.g., currentresponsibility score 74) associated with the client (e.g. client 38),social platform promotion process 10 may recommend 310 one or moresocial platforms chosen from plurality of social platforms 58 based, atleast in part, upon current responsibility score 74 associated withclient 38 and the one or more responsibility descriptors (as discussedabove) associated with each of plurality of social platforms 58.

So summing up, social platform promotion process 10 may recommend 304one or more social platforms based, at least in part, upon the currentresponsibility score (e.g., current responsibility score 74) associatedwith the client (e.g. client 38), alone or in combination with theabove-described one or more score conditions. Social platform promotionprocess 10 may then generate a result set (e.g., result set 72) that maybe provided 254 to client 38. As discussed above, assume that result set72 identifies six social platforms that client 38 (the CSR manager offast food corporation 68) may be interested in making a contribution to(namely two social platforms that combat childhood obesity, two socialplatforms that address single-use plastics, and two social platformsthat address greenhouse gas emissions).

While in the above-described example, the one or more score conditionsdefined 306 by social platform promotion process 10 for client 38 based,at least in part, upon current responsibility score 74 are described asbeing “negative” conditions (e.g., a childhood obesity deficiency; asingle-use plastics deficiency; and greenhouse gas emissionsdeficiency), this is for illustrative purposes only and is not intendedto be a limitation of this disclosure, as other configurations arepossible and are considered to be within the scope of this disclosure.

For example, the one or more score conditions defined 306 by socialplatform promotion process 10 for client 38 with respect to currentresponsibility score 74 may include “positive” conditions. Accordingly,social platform promotion process 10 may define 306 one or more“positive” condition for client 38. As discussed above and in thisexample, current responsibility score 74 indicated that client 38 hadperceived social responsibility issues in areas of childhood obesity;single-use plastics; and greenhouse gas emissions (the “negative”conditions). Additionally/alternatively, current responsibility score 74may also indicate that client 38 has perceived social responsibilityaccolades in areas of education (as client 38 makes generouscontributions to after-school programs), public health (as client 38sponsors a juvenile cancer treatment center), and veteran affairs (asclient 38 funds a program that provides assistance to homelessveterans).

Identity-Based Searching of the Pool

While the above-described example concerned a situation in which client38 was not aware (or only somewhat aware) of the manner in fast foodcorporations are perceived with respect to their social responsibilitybut was employed by an entity (e.g. fast food corporation 68, namely ABCBurgers) having a current responsibility score (e.g., currentresponsibility score 74), there may be situations in which the clientdoes not have a current responsibility score. For example, the clientmay be a new company or an established company for which a currentresponsibility score simply has never been calculated.

For this example, assume that client 42 is the President of computercorporation 78 (e.g. XYZ Computers), a relatively new computercorporation. Further assume that client 42 is not aware (or onlysomewhat aware) of the manner in computer corporations are perceivedwith respect to their social responsibility. Accordingly, client 42 mayutilize social platform promotion process 10 to identify the issues thatcomputer corporation 78 may specifically have with respect to theirperceived social responsibility. Accordingly, client 42 may visit e.g. awebsite/portal operated by social platform promotion process 10 that mayallow client 42 to identify themselves as a business entity (e.g.computer corporation 78, namely XYZ Computers), wherein client 42 mayrequest that social platform promotion process 10 make recommendationsconcerning one or more social platforms to which computer corporation 78may wish to make contributions to better their perceived socialresponsibility. Accordingly, these actions may result in the generationof social platform inquiry 80 that may be provided to social platformpromotion process 10.

As stated above, computer corporation 78 (e.g. XYZ Computers) is arelatively new computer corporation. Accordingly, assume that a currentresponsibility score has not yet been established for computercorporation 78. Therefore, when (as discussed above) social platformpromotion process 10 attempts to analyze 300 the current responsibilityscore associated with client 42 (or attempts to obtain 302 the same fromthird-party 76), social platform promotion process 10 may determine thata current responsibility score does not exist for client 42.

Social platform promotion process 10 may receive 250 the social platforminquiry (e.g., social platform inquiry 80) from a client (e.g. client42). However, being a current responsibility score does not yet existfor client 42, social platform promotion process 10 will not be able toanalyze 300 the same. However, social platform promotion process 10 maybe capable of providing the above-described social responsibilityanalysis for client 42 without requiring that client 42 have a currentsocial responsibility score.

Accordingly and referring also to FIG. 7, social platform promotionprocess 10 may define 350 one or more client identifiers for client 42,wherein examples of these one or more client identifiers may include butare not limited to: a client sector; a client location; a client size;and/or a client classification. As stated above, client 42 may identifycomputer corporation 78 (e.g. XYZ Computers) as a newly-formedmanufacturer of computers having a primary location in Pasadena, Calif.Accordingly, the client identifiers concerning client sector and clientlocation may be proactively defined/provided by client 42. Socialplatform promotion process 10 may then proactively research computercorporation 78 (e.g. XYZ Computers) to determine a client classification(e.g., private corporation, publicly traded corporation, marketcapitalization and tax entity status) and a client size (e.g., number ofemployees, number of offices, and number of related foreign entities).Alternatively, social platform promotion process 10 may make an inquiryof client 42 to determine such a client classification and/or clientsize. Assume for this example that is determined (via the clientproactively providing the information, the client reactively providinginformation and/or social platform promotion process 10 locating theinformation) that computer corporation 78 (e.g. XYZ Computers) is anewly-formed manufacturer of computers having a primary location inPasadena, Calif. that is a privately held company and employs 100 to 250people.

Once such client identifiers (e.g. newly-formed manufacturer ofcomputers having a primary location in Pasadena, Calif. that is aprivately held company and employs 100 to 250 people) are defined 350 bysocial platform promotion process 10 for client 42, social platformpromotion process 10 may recommend 352 one or more social platforms(chosen from social platform pool 56) based, at least in part, upon theone or more client identifiers defined 350. When recommending 352 one ormore social platforms (chosen from social platform pool 56) based, atleast in part, upon the one or more client identifiers, social platformpromotion process 10 may compare 354 the client (e.g., client 42) to oneor more entities having similar client identifiers.

Accordingly, while no current responsibility score is available forcomputer corporation 78 (e.g. XYZ Computers), social platform promotionprocess 10 may infer that computer corporation 78 (e.g. XYZ Computers)may be viewed with respect to their social responsibility in a fashionsimilar to the manner in which other computer corporations (i.e. othercorporations having similar client identifiers) are viewed with respectto their social responsibility. Accordingly and when recommending 352social platforms for client 42 to make contributions to based, at leastin part, upon the above-described client identifiers, social platformpromotion process 10 may compare 354 client 42 to one or more entitieshaving similar client identifiers.

Assume for this example that social platform promotion process 10determines that computer corporations in general are deemed to have poorsocial responsibility in the areas of plastics (due to the extensive useof plastics in manufacturing computers and shipping materials concerningthe same) and workplace diversity (due to computer science andengineering being an employment area in which women areunderrepresented), but are deemed to have high social responsibility inthe areas of technology proliferation (due to computers allowinginteraction between diverse groups of people that were typically unableto interact). Accordingly and when recommending 352 social platforms(chosen from social platform pool 56) based, at least in part, upon theone or more client identifiers associated with client 42, socialplatform promotion process 10 may recommend 352 that client 42contribute to social platforms that e.g., address the recycling ofplastics and/or address workplace diversity issues.

Continuing with the above-stated example, social platform promotionprocess 10 may define 356 one or more identity-based conditions ofclient 42 that are based, at least in part, upon the one or more clientidentifiers (e.g. newly-formed manufacturer of computers having aprimary location in Pasadena, Calif. that is a privately held companythat employs 100 to 250 people). As discussed above, examples of theseidentity-based conditions defined 356 by social platform promotionprocess 10 may include poor perceived social responsibility in the areasof plastics and workplace diversity and high perceived socialresponsibility in the area technology proliferation. Accordingly andwhen recommending 352 social platforms (chosen from social platform pool56) based, at least in part, upon the one or more client identifiersassociated with client 42, social platform promotion process 10 mayrecommend 358 one or more social platforms based, at least in part, uponthe one or more identity-based conditions (e.g., poor perceived socialresponsibility in the areas of plastics and workplace diversity).

When recommending 358 one or more social platforms based, at least inpart, upon the one or more identity-based conditions (e.g., poorperceived social responsibility in the areas of plastics and workplacediversity and high perceived social responsibility in the area oftechnology proliferation), social platform promotion process 10 mayrecommend 360 one or more social platforms that will mitigate a negativeidentity-based condition (e.g., social platforms that address the poorperceived social responsibility in the areas of plastics and workplacediversity).

Additionally/alternatively and when recommending 358 one or more socialplatforms based, at least in part, upon the one or more identity-basedconditions (e.g., poor perceived social responsibility in the areas ofplastics and workplace diversity and high perceived socialresponsibility in the area of technology proliferation), social platformpromotion process 10 may recommend 362 one or more social platforms thatwill maintain a positive identity-based condition (e.g., social programsthat further bolster the high perceived social responsibility in thearea of technology proliferation).

When making recommendations, social platform promotion process 10 maygenerate a result set (e.g., result set 82), which (as discussed above)may be provided 254 to the client (e.g., client 42). Result set 82 maydefine one or more social platforms that may be chosen from theplurality of prevetted social platforms (e.g., plurality of socialplatforms 58) defined within social platform pool 56. As discussedabove, social platform pool 56 may be maintained 100 by social platformpromotion process 10 (e.g., within a data structure such as storagedevice 16 coupled to computing device 12).

Since, in this example, social platform promotion process 10 determinedthat computer corporations in general are deemed to have poor socialresponsibility in the areas of plastics and workplace diversity, resultset 82 may include a) social platform 60 (e.g. Baja Plastics), which isan environmental social platform that recovers water-born plastics fromthe ocean so that such recovered plastic may be recycled, and b) socialplatform 84 (e.g., CoderGirls), which is a social platform that promotesand supports females entering STEM fields. Further, since in thisexample, social platform promotion process 10 determined that computercorporations in general are deemed to have high social responsibility inthe areas of technology proliferation, result set 82 may include c)social platform 86 (e.g., Access4All), which is a social platform thatpromotes free internet access across the developing world.

Closing the Deal

As discussed above, a responsibility score may define the manner inwhich a client (e.g. a corporation or business entity) is viewed withrespect to their social responsibility. For example, a currentresponsibility score associated with the client may include one or moreof: an environmental score; a social score; and a governance score,wherein one example of such a responsibility score is an ESG score. Asis known in the art, an ESG score is defined using various ESG scoringcriteria.

Further and as discussed above, social platform promotion process 10 mayrecommend social platforms (chosen from social platform pool 56) thatmay address perceived social responsibility issues associated with aclient, wherein these social responsibility issues may often beidentified by social platform promotion process 10 examining aresponsibility score. Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10may be configured to predict how a responsibility score may change whena client contributes to one of the social platforms recommended bysocial platform promotion process 10.

Predicting Score Change

Referring also to FIG. 8 and as discussed above, social platformpromotion process 10 may receive 250 a social platform inquiry from aclient and may analyze 300 a current responsibility score associatedwith the client. The responsibility score associated with the clientneed not be organically generated/maintained by social platformpromotion process 10 and may be obtained 302 from a third party (e.g.,third-party 76). Social platform promotion process 10 may then recommend304 one or more social platforms based, at least in part, upon thecurrent responsibility score associated with the client. Social platformpromotion process 10 may define 306 one or more score conditions of theclient based, at least in part, upon the current responsibility score,wherein social platform promotion process 10 may then recommend 308 oneor more social platforms based, at least in part, upon these one or morescore conditions.

As discussed above, when making recommendations, social platformpromotion process 10 may generate a result set that (as discussed above)may be provided 254 to the client. This result set may define one ormore social platforms that may be chosen from the plurality of prevettedsocial platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58) defined withinsocial platform pool 56. Further and as discussed above, social platformpool 56 may be maintained 100 by social platform promotion process 10(e.g., within a data structure such as storage device 16 coupled tocomputing device 12).

Additionally, social platform promotion process 10 may be configured topredict 400 an updated responsibility score for the client based, atleast in part, upon the one or more social platforms, thus allowing theclient to review the recommendations defined within the result set andallowing the client to make an informed decision concerning which (ifany) of the social platforms to make a contribution to.

Returning to the above-stated example in which client 38 is a CSRmanager for fast food corporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) who uses socialplatform promotion process 10 to identify one or more social platformsto which the fast food corporation 68 may wish to make a contribution,client 38 may provide social platform inquiry 70 to social platformpromotion process 10.

Social platform promotion process 10 may receive 250 social platforminquiry 70 from client 38 and may analyze 300 a current responsibilityscore (e.g., current responsibility score 74) associated with the client(e.g., client 38, the CSR manager of fast food corporation 68), whereincurrent responsibility score 74 may be obtained 302 from third-party 76.As discussed above, examples of third-party 76 may include but is notlimited to one or more rating agencies such as MSCI, Thomson-Reuters,and Sustainalytics. Social platform promotion process 10 may thenrecommend 304 one or more social platforms based, at least in part, uponcurrent responsibility score 74 associated with client 38.

As discussed above, social platform promotion process 10 may define 306one or more score conditions of client 38 based, at least in part, uponcurrent responsibility score 74, wherein social platform promotionprocess 10 may then recommend 308 social platforms based, at least inpart, upon these one or more score conditions. In the above-describedexample, social platform process 10 defines 306 three conditions (e.g.,a childhood obesity deficiency; a single-use plastics deficiency; andgreenhouse gas emissions deficiency) within responsibility score 74 ofclient 38. Accordingly and when recommending 304 one or more socialplatforms based, at least in part, upon current responsibility score 74associated with client 38, social platform promotion process 10 mayrecommend 308 one or more social platforms based, at least in part, uponthe one or more score conditions (e.g., a childhood obesity deficiency;a single-use plastics deficiency; and a greenhouse gas emissionsdeficiency). Specifically and as discussed above, social platformpromotion process 10 may determine which of the social platforms definedwithin social platform pool 56 include responsibility descriptors thatare associated with e.g., childhood obesity; single-use plastics; andgreenhouse gas emissions and may recommend 308 those social platforms.

Further and as discussed above, assume that result set 72 identifies sixsocial platforms that client 38 (the CSR manager of fast foodcorporation 68) may be interested in making a contribution to (namelytwo social platforms that combat childhood obesity, two social platformsthat address single-use plastics, and two social platforms that addressgreenhouse gas emissions). Unfortunately, if the objective of client 38making a contribution to one of the social platforms defined withinresult set 72 is to bolster their responsibility score (e.g.,responsibility score 74), client 38 may not know which social platformto make a contribution to (as client 38 may be unsure as to how making acontribution to each of these social platforms will impactresponsibility score 74.

Accordingly and in order to assist client 38 in making such a decision,social platform promotion process 10 may be configured to predict 400 anupdated responsibility score (e.g., updated responsibility score 74′)for the client (e.g., client 38) based, at least in part, upon the oneor more social platforms, thus allowing (in this example) client 38 toreview the recommendations defined within result set 72 and allow client38 to make an informed decision concerning which (if any) of the socialplatforms to make a contribution to.

For example, social platform promotion process 10 may be configured topredict 400 an updated responsibility score (e.g., updatedresponsibility score 74′) for the client (e.g., client 38) based, atleast in part, upon the six social platforms defined within result set72, wherein result set 72 and the predictions may be defined as follows:

Social Platform Current Score 74 Predicted Score 74′ % Increase Option#1 853 861 0.93% Option #2 853 872 2.22% Option #3 853 907 6.33% Option#4 853 899 5.93% Option #5 853 923 8.20% Option #6 853 887 3.98%

For example and as shown above in tabular form, social platformpromotion process 10 may predict 400 an updated responsibility score(e.g., updated responsibility score 74′) for the client (e.g., client38) based, at least in part, upon the six social platforms definedwithin result set 72.

Accordingly and as shown above:

-   -   choosing social platform #1 (of the six defined within results        set 72) may result in an updated responsibility score 74′ of 861        (increasing 0.93% from 853);    -   choosing social platform #2 (of the six defined within results        set 72) may result in an updated responsibility score 74′ of 872        (increasing 2.22% from 853);    -   choosing social platform #3 (of the six defined within results        set 72) may result in an updated responsibility score 74′ of 907        (increasing 6.33% from 853);    -   choosing social platform #4 (of the six defined within results        set 72) may result in an updated responsibility score 74′ of 899        (increasing 5.93% from 853);    -   choosing social platform #5 (of the six defined within results        set 72) may result in an updated responsibility score 74′ of 923        (increasing 8.20% from 853); and    -   choosing social platform #6 (of the six defined within results        set 72) may result in an updated responsibility score 74′ of 887        (increasing 3.98% from 853).

While the predictions made by social platform promotion process 10 areshown above in tabular form, this is for illustrative purposes only andis not intended to be a limitation of this disclosure, as otherconfigurations are possible and are considered to be within the scope ofthis disclosure. For example, results set 72 may be rendered within agraphical user interface (not shown) by social platform promotionprocess 10, wherein client 38 may select one of (in this example) thesix recommended social platforms and a window may be rendered that showsa predicted updated responsibility score when (in this example) client38 selects the related social platform.

When predicting 400 an updated responsibility score (e.g., updatedresponsibility score 74′) for client 38 based, at least in part, uponthe one or more social platforms, social platform promotion process 10may calculate 402 the updated responsibility score (e.g., updatedresponsibility score 74′) for client 38 based, at least in part, uponthe one or more social platforms; or may estimate 404 the updatedresponsibility score (e.g., updated responsibility score 74′) for client38 based, at least in part, upon the one or more social platforms.

As stated above, the responsibility score (e.g., current responsibilityscore 74) associated with the client (e.g. client 38) may be organicallygenerated/maintained by social platform promotion process 10 and may beobtained 302 from a third party (e.g., third-party 76). Accordingly andin the event that the responsibility score (e.g., current responsibilityscore 74) associated with the client (e.g. client 38) was organicallygenerated/maintained by social platform promotion process 10, socialplatform promotion process 10 may simply calculate 402 the updatedresponsibility score (e.g., updated responsibility score 74′) for client38 based, at least in part, upon the one or more social platforms.Further and in the event that the responsibility score (e.g., currentresponsibility score 74) associated with the client (e.g. client 38) wasobtained 302 from a third party (e.g., third-party 76), social platformpromotion process 10 may simply have third-party 76 calculate 402 theupdated responsibility score (e.g., updated responsibility score 74′)for client 38 based, at least in part, upon the one or more socialplatforms.

Alternatively, in the event that the responsibility score (e.g., currentresponsibility score 74) associated with the client (e.g. client 38) wasobtained 302 from a third party (e.g., third-party 76) and third-party76 is not available to perform the calculation, social platformpromotion process 10 may estimate 404 the updated responsibility score(e.g., updated responsibility score 74′) for client 38 based, at leastin part, upon the one or more social platforms. For example, socialplatform promotion process 10 may estimate 404 the values of the updatedresponsibility score (e.g., updated responsibility score 74′) based uponvarious factors, examples of which may include but are not limited to:experience concerning the amount that responsibility scores have movedin the past, speculation concerning the manner in which responsibilityscores are being calculated by third-party 76, and speculationconcerning the market reaction to a contribution by client 38.

While in the above-described example, the one or more score conditionsdefined 306 by social platform promotion process 10 for client 38 based,at least in part, upon current responsibility score 74 are described asbeing “negative” conditions (e.g., a childhood obesity deficiency; asingle-use plastics deficiency; and greenhouse gas emissionsdeficiency), this is for illustrative purposes only and is not intendedto be a limitation of this disclosure, as other configurations arepossible and are considered to be within the scope of this disclosure.

For example, the one or more score conditions defined 306 by socialplatform promotion process 10 for client 38 with respect to currentresponsibility score 74 may include “positive” conditions. Accordingly,social platform promotion process 10 may define 306 one or more“positive” condition for client 38. As discussed above and in thisexample, current responsibility score 74 indicated that client 38 hadperceived social responsibility issues in areas of childhood obesity;single-use plastics; and greenhouse gas emissions (the “negative”conditions). Additionally/alternatively, current responsibility score 74may also indicate that client 38 has perceived social responsibilityaccolades in areas of education (as client 38 makes generouscontributions to after-school programs), public health (as client 38sponsors a juvenile cancer treatment center), and veteran affairs (asclient 38 funds a program that provides assistance to homelessveterans).

Incentivizing Higher Contribution

Returning to the above-stated example in which client 38 is a CSRmanager for fast food corporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) who uses socialplatform promotion process 10 to identify one or more social platformsto which the fast food corporation 68 may wish to make a contribution,client 38 may provide social platform inquiry to social platformpromotion process 10.

Referring also to FIG. 9, social platform promotion process 10 mayreceive 250 social platform inquiry 70 from client 38 and may analyze300 a current responsibility score (e.g., current responsibility score74) associated with the client (e.g., client 38, the CSR manager of fastfood corporation 68), wherein current responsibility score 74 may be(but need not be) obtained 302 from third-party 76. Social platformpromotion process 10 may then recommend 304 one or more social platformsbased, at least in part, upon current responsibility score 74 associatedwith client 38.

As discussed above, social platform promotion process 10 may define 306one or more score conditions of client 38 based, at least in part, uponcurrent responsibility score 74, wherein social platform promotionprocess 10 may then recommend 308 social platforms based, at least inpart, upon these one or more score conditions. In the above-describedexample, social platform process 10 defines 306 three conditions (e.g.,a childhood obesity deficiency; a single-use plastics deficiency; andgreenhouse gas emissions deficiency) within responsibility score 74 ofclient 38. Accordingly and when recommending 304 one or more socialplatforms based, at least in part, upon current responsibility score 74associated with client 38, social platform promotion process 10 mayrecommend 308 one or more social platforms based, at least in part, uponthe one or more score conditions (e.g., a childhood obesity deficiency;a single-use plastics deficiency; and a greenhouse gas emissionsdeficiency). Specifically and as discussed above, social platformpromotion process 10 may determine which of the social platforms definedwithin social platform pool 56 include responsibility descriptors thatare associated with e.g., childhood obesity; single-use plastics; andgreenhouse gas emissions and may recommend 308 those social platforms.

As discussed above, when making recommendations, social platformpromotion process 10 may generate a result set that (as discussed above)may be provided 254 to the client. This result set may define one ormore social platforms that may be chosen from the plurality of prevettedsocial platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58) defined withinsocial platform pool 56. Further and as discussed above, social platformpool 56 may be maintained 100 by social platform promotion process 10(e.g., within a data structure such as storage device 16 coupled tocomputing device 12).

Continuing with the above-stated example, result set 72 may identify sixsocial platforms that client 38 may be interested in making acontribution to, wherein client 38 may subsequently select one or moreof these (in this example) six social platform to which client 38 makesa contribution.

Accordingly and by making such a selection, social platform promotionprocess 10 may identify 450 a social platform to which they wish to makea contribution, wherein social platform promotion process 10 mayidentify 452 a defined contribution for the social platform for a client(e.g., client 38). For example, assume that client 38 wishes to addresstheir single-use plastics deficiency (defined above). As discussedabove, client 40 is involved with social platform 60 (e.g. BajaPlastics), which is an environmental social platform that recoverswater-born plastics from the ocean so that such recovered plastic may berecycled. Accordingly, assume that Baja Plastics (e.g., client 40) isone of the six social platforms defined within result set 72. Furtherassume that client 38 selects Baja Plastics (e.g., client 40) as thesocial platform to which they would like to make a contribution of$100,000. Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may identify450 Baja Plastics (i.e., client 40) as the social platform to whichclient 38 wishes to make a contribution and may identify 452 $100,000 asthe defined contribution amount for the social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60) for a client (e.g., client 38).

Social platform promotion process 10 may define 454 an anticipatedoutcome for the social platform (e.g., Baja Plastics) based, at least inpart, upon the defined contribution (e.g., $100,000). For example andwith respect to the defined contribution of $100,000, social platformpromotion process 10 defines 454 an anticipated outcome of recovering100 tons of water-born plastics. This anticipated outcome may bedetermined through various methodologies, examples of which may includebut are not limited to the past performance of Baja Plastics (i.e.,client 40), discussions with Baja Plastics (i.e., client 40),representations made by Baja Plastics (i.e., client 40), and assurancesgiven by Baja Plastics (i.e., client 40).

Accordingly and when deciding how much of a contribution to make to BajaPlastics (i.e., client 40), client 38 will be presented with theanticipated outcome of recovering 100 tons of water-born plastic for theidentified $100,000 defined contribution amount. However, and prior toclient 38 finalizing the contribution deal, social platform promotionprocess 10 may incentivize 456 the client (e.g., client 38) to increasetheir defined contribution (currently at $100,000) to an enhancedcontribution by illustrating to client 38 a non-linear increase in theanticipated outcome (currently at 100 tons of water-born plastics) inresponse to the enhanced contribution.

When incentivizing 456 client 38, social platform promotion process 10may provide such “incentives” when e.g., client 38 appears ready tosubmit their contribution, client 38 has submitted their contribution,or when client 38 is identifying 452 their defined contribution amount.

For example and when incentivizing 456 client 38 to increase theirdefined contribution (currently at $100,000) to an enhanced contributionby illustrating to client 38 a non-linear increase in the anticipatedoutcome (currently at 100 tons of water-born plastics) in response tothe enhanced contribution, social platform promotion process 10 mayillustrate 458 to client 38 that increasing the defined contribution byX % will increase the anticipated outcome by Y %, wherein Y is greaterthan X. Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may illustrate458 (via e.g., a pop-up window or a splash screen) to client 38 thatincreasing their defined contribution by 100% (i.e., from $100,000 to$200,000) will increase the anticipated outcome by 150% (i.e., fromrecovering 100 tons of water-born plastic to recovering 250 tons ofwater-born plastic).

Further and when incentivizing 456 client 38 to increase their definedcontribution (currently at $100,000) to an enhanced contribution byillustrating to client 38 a non-linear increase in the anticipatedoutcome (currently at 100 tons of water-born plastics) in response tothe enhanced contribution, social platform promotion process 10 mayrequest 460 that client 38 increase the defined contribution by X % toincrease the anticipated outcome by Y %, wherein Y is greater than X.Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may request 460 thatclient 38 increase their defined contribution by 100% (i.e., from$100,000 to $200,000) so that Baja Plastics (i.e., client 40) mayincrease their anticipated outcome by 150% (i.e., from recovering 100tons of water-born plastic to recovering 250 tons of water-bornplastic).

While in the above-described example, the one or more score conditionsdefined 306 by social platform promotion process 10 for client 38 based,at least in part, upon current responsibility score 74 are described asbeing “negative” conditions (e.g., a childhood obesity deficiency; asingle-use plastics deficiency; and greenhouse gas emissionsdeficiency), this is for illustrative purposes only and is not intendedto be a limitation of this disclosure, as other configurations arepossible and are considered to be within the scope of this disclosure.

For example, the one or more score conditions defined 306 by socialplatform promotion process 10 for client 38 with respect to currentresponsibility score 74 may include “positive” conditions. Accordingly,social platform promotion process 10 may define 306 one or more“positive” condition for client 38. As discussed above and in thisexample, current responsibility score 74 indicated that client 38 hadperceived social responsibility issues in areas of childhood obesity;single-use plastics; and greenhouse gas emissions (the “negative”conditions). Additionally/alternatively, current responsibility score 74may also indicate that client 38 has perceived social responsibilityaccolades in areas of education (as client 38 makes generouscontributions to after-school programs), public health (as client 38sponsors a juvenile cancer treatment center), and veteran affairs (asclient 38 funds a program that provides assistance to homelessveterans).

Funding the Social Platforms

As discussed above, social platform promotion process 10 may receive 250a social platform inquiry from a client and may analyze 300 a currentresponsibility score associated with the client. The responsibilityscore associated with the client need not be organicallygenerated/maintained by social platform promotion process 10 and may beobtained 302 from a third party (e.g., third-party 76). Social platformpromotion process 10 may then recommend 304 one or more social platformsbased, at least in part, upon the current responsibility scoreassociated with the client. Social platform promotion process 10 maydefine 306 one or more score conditions of the client based, at least inpart, upon the current responsibility score, wherein social platformpromotion process 10 may then recommend 308 one or more social platformsbased, at least in part, upon these one or more score conditions.

As discussed above, when making recommendations, social platformpromotion process 10 may generate a result set that (as discussed above)may be provided 254 to the client. This result set may define one ormore social platforms that may be chosen from the plurality of prevettedsocial platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58) defined withinsocial platform pool 56. Further and as discussed above, social platformpool 56 may be maintained 100 by social platform promotion process 10(e.g., within a data structure such as storage device 16 coupled tocomputing device 12).

The use of social platform promotion process 10 may have numerousbeneficiaries. As discussed above, the plurality of social platforms 58included within social platform pool 56 may benefit from the use ofsocial platform promotion process 10, in that various clients of socialplatform promotion process 10 may make contributions to the socialplatforms defined within social platform pool 56.

However, other entities may also be beneficiaries of social platformpromotion process 10. For example, assume that broadcasting company 88(e.g., FNBS Broadcasting) operates and/or is associated with socialplatform promotion process 10. As will be discussed below in greaterdetail, broadcasting company 88 may be configured to increase theirrevenue (through the use of social platform promotion process 10) byencouraging their clients to make contributions to the social platformsdefined within social platform pool 56.

For example and as would be expected, broadcasting company 88 maygenerate revenue by selling advertisements. Accordingly, various clientsof broadcasting company 88 may enter into contracts with broadcastingcompany 88 to provide advertising services (often referred to as adbuys). For example, one client may enter into a $1,000,000 televisionadvertising campaign, wherein broadcasting company 88 may producetelevision-based advertisement content for the client and may broadcastthe same. Further, another client may enter into a $300,000 radioadvertising campaign wherein broadcasting company 88 may produceradio-based advertisement content for the client and may broadcast thesame.

As would be expected, there is always plenty of competition in thebusiness arena, and this holds especially true with respect tobroadcasting companies. Accordingly, it is highly desirable forbroadcasting company 88 to lure advertising dollars away from theircompetitors while avoiding their competitors luring advertising dollarsaway from broadcast company 88. Therefore, any tool that would result inclients looking more favorably upon broadcasting company 88 when it istime to spend advertising dollars would be highly beneficial tobroadcasting company 88. Fortunately, social platform promotion process10 may be configurable in a manner that would accomplish thishighly-desirable task.

Specifically, all discussions of social platform promotion process 10thus far have concerned a contribution being made to one or more of thesocial platforms defined within social platform pool 56. However, thesource of the funds concerning this contribution was never defined.Naturally, it could occur in a “traditional” manner in which the client(i.e., the party who wishes to enhance their responsibility score) maydirectly make the contribution to a social platform chosen from socialplatform pool 56. However, social platform promotion process 10 may beconfigured in such a way that a portion of an advertisement campaign(e.g., between a client and broadcasting company 88) may be used to fundcontributions to the social platform defined within social platform pool56.

Accordingly, to incentivize clients to advertise with (in this example)broadcasting company 88, broadcasting company 88 may offer to take adefined percentage of an advertising campaign and use that money tocontribute to social platforms that may benefit the responsibility scoreof the client engaging in the advertising campaign with broadcastcompany 88.

As discussed above, fast food corporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) has aperceived social responsibility issue with respect to three specificareas (e.g., childhood obesity; single-use plastics; and greenhouse gasemissions. Accordingly, assume for this example that fast foodcorporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) is about to enter into a onemillion-dollar advertising campaign with a broadcasting company. Assumethat, in addition to broadcasting company 88, fast food corporation 68(e.g. ABC Burgers) is also talking to several competitors ofbroadcasting company 88. Accordingly, it may be highly desirable forbroadcasting company 88 to be able to differentiate themselves withrespect to their competitors.

Accordingly, broadcasting company 88 may have a promotion whereinbroadcasting company 88 agrees to contribute 10% of all advertisingcampaigns to one of the social platforms defined within social platformpool 56. Therefore and due to this promotion, fast food corporation 68may agree to a $1,000,000 advertising campaign with broadcasting company88 on the premise that broadcasting company 88 will contribute 10%(i.e., $100,000) of that $1,000,000 advertising campaign to a socialplatform that fast food corporation 68 may select from social platformpool 56. Accordingly, client 38 (i.e., the CSR manager of fast foodcorporation 68) may:

-   -   visit e.g. the website/portal operated by social platform        promotion process 10 so that client 38 may determine what issues        fast food corporation 68 has with respect to their perceived        social responsibility (in the manner described above);    -   research the various social platforms included within social        platform pool 56 (in the manner described above);    -   identify one or more social platforms that may address any        perceived social responsibility issues concerning fast food        corporation 68 (in the manner described above); and    -   contribute (in this example) the $100,000 that is being provided        by broadcasting company 88 as a portion of the advertising        campaign that fast food corporation 68 entered into with        broadcasting company 88.

When the above-stated $100,000 contribution is made with respect to oneor more social platforms defined within social platform pool 56, thiscontribution may be made in the name of fast food corporation 68, thusallowing fast food corporation 68 to receive the social responsibilitybenefit of making such a contribution. Further, this contribution mayalso benefit broadcasting company 88.

Gross-Level Funding

As is known in the art, companies and corporations often have, includedwithin an annual budget, CSR (i.e., corporate social responsibility)funds, wherein (in this example) broadcasting company 88 may use theseCSR funds for various projects and expenditures that may bolster theperceived social responsibility of broadcasting company 88. Accordingly,these funds may have already been set aside (and budgeted for) corporatesocial responsibility spending. Therefore, broadcasting company 88 mayuse (in this example) $100,000 of those budgeted CSR funds to pay forthe contribution being made on behalf of fast food corporation 68 to oneor more of the social platforms defined within social platform pool 56.Accordingly, both fast food corporation 68 and broadcasting company 88may benefit from this $100,000 contribution to one or more socialplatforms included within social platform pool 56.

Additionally and as is known in the art, companies and corporations alsooften have, included within an annual budget, sales incentive funds,wherein (in this example) broadcasting company 88 may use these salesincentive funds on various promotions, examples of which may include butare not limited to: free product shipping; free extended warranties;free upgrades; free customer support; and free customer service.Accordingly, these funds may have already been set aside (and budgetedfor) sales incentive spending. Therefore, broadcasting company 88 mayuse (in this example) $100,000 of those budgeted sales incentive fundsto pay for the contribution being made on behalf of fast foodcorporation 68 to one or more of the social platforms defined withinsocial platform pool 56.

Accordingly and through the use of the above-described funds,contributions may be made to one or more social platforms includedwithin social platform pool 56 at the gross revenue level (as opposed toat the net-net revenue level).

Often times, when X % of a revenue portion is used to fund a socialplatform, the dollar amount associated with that X % is calculated atthe net-net level. Unfortunately, this can have a severely detrimentalimpact on the quantity of funds that the social platform being fundedreceives. For example and with respect to the $1,000,000 advertisingcampaign, assume that broadcasting company 88 has $500,000 in expensesassociated with performing the $1,000,000 advertising campaign (thusresulting in a first net value of $500,000). On this remaining $500,000,broadcasting company 88 may pay $150,000 in taxes, resulting in anet-net value of $350,000. If broadcasting company 88 funded theselected social platform with 10% of this net-net $350,000 value, thesocial platform would only receive $35,000. However, if broadcastingcompany 88 funded the selected social program with 10% of the gross$1,000,000 value, the social platform would receive $100,000.

Continuing with the above-stated example, assume that (after muchresearch) client 38 (i.e., the CSR manager of fast food corporation 68)decides that fast food corporation 68 would like to contribute their$100,000 to social platform 60 (e.g. Baja Plastics), which is anenvironmental social platform that recovers water-born plastics from theocean so that such recovered plastic may be recycled.

Accordingly and referring also to FIG. 10, social platform promotionprocess 10 may identify 500 a social platform (i.e., social platform 60)as the social platform to which client 38 would like to make acontribution. As discussed above, broadcasting company 88 has agreed tocontribute 10% of the $1,000,000 advertising campaign purchased by fastfood corporation 68 to the social platform of their choosing (asselected from social platform pool 56). Accordingly, social platformpromotion process 10 may identify 502 a defined contribution (i.e.,$100,000) for the social platform (i.e., social platform 60) for aclient (i.e., client 38, the CSR manager of fast food corporation 68),wherein this defined contribution is a percentage of a purchase made bythe client (i.e., client 38, the CSR manager of fast food corporation68).

Further, social platform promotion process 10 may fund 504 the definedcontribution (i.e., $100,000) at a gross revenue level, wherein funding504 the defined contribution at a gross revenue level (i.e., as opposedto the net-net level) results in funding 506 the defined contribution(i.e., $100,000) with one or more of: pre-tax revenue, pre-expenserevenue, and pre-tax/pre-expense revenue. As discussed above, when e.g.social platform 60 is funded at the net-net level, the quantity offunding received by the social platform is adversely impacted.Accordingly, by funding social platform 60 at the gross level (be itwith pre-tax revenue, pre-expense revenue or pre-tax/pre-expenserevenue), the quantity of funding received by social platform 60 will beenhanced.

When funding 504 the defined contribution (i.e., $100,000) at a grossrevenue level, social platform promotion process 10 may fund 508 thedefined contribution (i.e., $100,000) at a gross revenue level using oneor more funding sources. As discussed above, examples of such one ormore funding sources may include but are not limited to: a corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) funding source; and a sales incentivefunding source.

As discussed above, funding 504 the defined contribution (i.e.,$100,000) at a gross revenue level has a tremendous financial benefit,as (in this example) the social platform will receive $100,000 (asopposed to $35,000). As can be easily understood, when funding 504 thedefined contribution (i.e., $100,000) at a gross revenue level, it hasan impact similar to funding a tax-deferred retirement plan (such as a401k or an IRA) with pretax dollars as opposed to funding a traditionalsavings account with post-tax dollars. For example, if an individual isin the upper income tax bracket and has $10,000 to place into either atax-deferred retirement account or a traditional (i.e., post-tax)savings account, the benefits of using the former become readilyapparent. For example, if the individual deposited $10,000 into atax-deferred retirement account, the amount of the savings placed intothat tax-deferred retirement account will be $10,000 (as they do notneed to pay tax on the contribution at the time of the deposit).However, if the individual wanted to place that same $10,000 into atraditional (i.e., post-tax) savings account, the individual first needsto pay tax on the $10,000. And depending upon the state in which theylive and their marginal tax rate, the tax may be >50% of the $10,000.Accordingly, the same $10,000 contribution into a traditional (i.e.,post-tax) savings account may result in the amount of the savings placedinto that savings account being less than $5,000.

Incremental Funding

Referring also to FIG. 11, in order to provide a higher level of controlconcerning the manner in which contributions made to social platformsare utilized, social platform promotion process 10 may be configured toincrementally disperse the contributions to the social platforms.

Continuing with the above-stated example in which client 38 (i.e., theCSR manager of fast food corporation 68) decides to make a $100,000contribution to social platform 60 (e.g. Baja Plastics), social platformpromotion process 10 may receive 550 a contribution (e.g., $100,000) fora social platform (e.g., social platform 60).

Social platform promotion process 10 may define 552 a first milestoneand at least a second milestone for the social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60); and may associate 554 the first milestone with a firstportion of the contribution, and may associate 556 the at least a secondmilestone with at least a second portion of the contribution.

For example, assume that social platform promotion process 10 defines552 six milestones for this project being handled by platform 60. Asdiscussed above, social platform 60 (e.g. Baja Plastics) committed torecovering 100 tons of water-born plastic in response to receiving a$100,000 contribution. Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10may define 552 the following milestones:

Milestone Task Funding Milestone #1 Initiate & Startup $10,000 Milestone#2 Recover 1st 25 tons $20,000 Milestone #3 Recover 2nd 25 tons $20,000Milestone #4 Recover 3rd 25 tons $20,000 Milestone #5 Recover 4th 25tons $20,000 Milestone #6 Cleanup & Shutdown $10,000

As shown above, social platform promotion process 10 defined 552 sixmilestones for this project (i.e., recovering 100 tons of ocean-bornplastic), wherein each of these six milestones has a portion of thecontribution assigned to it. For example, social platform promotionprocess 10 may associate 554 the first milestone (e.g., initiate &startup) with a first portion of the contribution (e.g., $10,000), andmay associate 556 the at least a second milestone (e.g., milestones 2-6)with at least a second portion of the contribution (e.g., portions 2-6),wherein the distribution of these various portions of the contributionis contingent upon the completion of the defined milestone.

Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may:

-   -   dispense 558 the first portion of the $100,000 contribution        (namely $10,000) to social platform 60 upon social platform 60        achieving the first milestone (namely the initiation and startup        of the project).    -   dispense 560 the second portion of the contribution (namely        $20,000) to social platform 60 upon social platform 60 achieving        the second milestone (namely the recovery of the 1st 25 tons of        water-born plastic).    -   dispense 560 the third portion of the contribution (namely        $20,000) to social platform 60 upon social platform 60 achieving        the third milestone (namely the recovery of the 2nd 25 tons of        water-born plastic).    -   dispense 560 the fourth portion of the contribution (namely        $20,000) to social platform 60 upon social platform 60 achieving        the fourth milestone (namely the recovery of the 3rd 25 tons of        water-born plastic).    -   dispense 560 the fifth portion of the contribution (namely        $20,000) to social platform 60 upon social platform 60 achieving        the fifth milestone (namely the recovery of the 4th 25 tons of        water-born plastic).    -   dispense 560 the six portion of the contribution (namely        $10,000) to social platform 60 upon social platform 60 achieving        the six milestone (namely the cleanup & shutdown of the        project).

Post Funding

Once the above-described social platforms are funded with theabove-described contributions, social platform promotion process 10 mayinitiate the process of publicizing these contributions so that theresponsibility score of the client that made these contributions may bepositively influenced.

Promotional Material Publication

Referring also to FIG. 12 and continuing with the above-describedexample, social platform promotion process 10 may receive 600 acontribution (e.g., $100,000) for a social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60) from a client (i.e., client 38, the CSR manager of fastfood corporation 68).

As discussed above, social platform 60 may be chosen from the pluralityof prevetted social platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58)defined within social platform pool 56. Further and as discussed above,social platform pool 56 may be maintained 100 by social platformpromotion process 10 (e.g., within a data structure such as storagedevice 16 coupled to computing device 12).

Social platform promotion process 10 may produce 602 promotionalmaterial 90 for the client (i.e., client 38, the CSR manager of fastfood corporation 68) concerning their contribution (i.e., $100,000) tothe social platform (e.g., social platform 60), wherein promotionalmaterial 90 is configured to positively impact a current responsibilityscore (e.g., current responsibility score 74) associated with the client(i.e., client 38, the CSR manager of fast food corporation 68). Asdiscussed above, a responsibility score (e.g., current responsibilityscore 74) may define the manner in which a client (e.g. a corporation orbusiness entity) is viewed with respect to their social responsibility.For example, a current responsibility score (e.g., currentresponsibility score 74) associated with the client may include one ormore of: an environmental score; a social score; and a governance score.

Once produced 602, social platform promotion process 10 may publish 604promotional material 90, wherein publishing 604 promotional material 90may include publishing 606 promotional material 90 in a plurality offormats. For example, social platform promotion process 10 may publish606 promotional material 90 in a human-readable format and/or in amachine-readable format. Accordingly, promotional material 90 may bepublished 606 in a traditional fashion that is available electronically(e.g., as a PDF document that is downloadable/viewable at a website) ormay be published 606 in a machine-readable format (e.g., as acomma-delimited file that is available to and processable by a computersystem). Additionally and when publishing 604 promotional material 90,social platform promotion process 10 may push 608 promotional material90 to a rating agency (e.g., third-party 76), examples of which mayinclude but are not limited to MSCI, Thomson-Reuters, andSustainalytics. Accordingly and by pushing 608 promotional material 90to a rating agency (e.g., third-party 76), such promotional material 90may be processed by third-party 76, resulting in current responsibilityscore 74 being enhanced to updated responsibility score 74′.

Contribution Return on Investment

Once the above-described contribution is made, the client that made thecontribution may be interested in determining how successful thatcontribution was at bettering the perceived social responsibility of theclient.

Referring also to FIG. 13 and continuing with the above-stated examplein which social platform promotion process 10 receives 600 a $100,000contribution for social platform 60 from client 38, social platformpromotion process 10 may fund 650 the social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60). This funding of social platform 60 may occur in variousways (e.g., as a single lump sum or may be metered in accordance withvarious milestones).

As discussed above, social platform 60 may be chosen from the pluralityof prevetted social platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58)defined within social platform pool 56. Further and as discussed above,social platform pool 56 may be maintained 100 by social platformpromotion process 10 (e.g., within a data structure such as storagedevice 16 coupled to computing device 12).

Social platform promotion process 10 may produce 602 promotionalmaterial 90 for the client (i.e., client 38, the CSR manager of fastfood corporation 68) concerning their contribution (i.e., $100,000) tothe social platform (e.g., social platform 60), wherein promotionalmaterial 90 is configured to positively impact a current responsibilityscore (e.g., current responsibility score 74) associated with the client(i.e., client 38, the CSR manager of fast food corporation 68). Onceproduced 602, social platform promotion process 10 may publish 604promotional material 90.

Once promotional material 90 is published 604, social platform promotionprocess 10 may calculate 652 a contribution ROI experienced by client 38as a result of the $100,000 contribution to social platform 60.Accordingly and by calculating such a contribution ROI experienced byclient 38, the effectiveness of the $100,000 contribution made to socialplatform 60 may be determined.

For example and when calculating 652 a contribution ROI experienced byclient 38 as a result of the $100,000 contribution to social platform60, social platform promotion process 10 may:

-   -   monitor 654 convergence to landing pages related to the client;    -   track 656 the success of advertisement campaigns associated with        the client;    -   monitor 658 opinions on social media concerning the client;    -   analyze 660 surveys concerning the client; and/or    -   track 662 social impact with respect to the client.

Monitoring Convergence: When monitoring 654 convergence to landing pagesrelated to client 38, social platform promotion process 10 may monitorthe internet traffic on the various webpages associated with client 38.For example, an increase in web traffic on the websites that areassociated with client 38 may be indicative of the $100,000 contributionto social platform 60 being a successful campaign

Tracking Success: When tracking 656 the success of advertisementcampaigns associated with client 38, social platform promotion process10 may determine whether promotional material 90 was successful by e.g.,gauging the reaction of recipients of promotional information 90.

Monitoring Opinions: When monitoring 658 opinions on social mediaconcerning client 38, social platform promotion process 10 may analyzefeedback posted on social media websites that are associated with client38, wherein such analysis may be performed manually or via machinelearning/artificial intelligence.

Analyzing Surveys: When analyzing 660 surveys concerning client 38,social platform promotion process 10 may execute and/or analyze surveysconcerning the perceived social responsibility of client 38, whereinsuch analysis may be performed manually or via machinelearning/artificial intelligence.

Tracking Social Impact: When tracking 662 social impact with respect toclient 38, social platform promotion process 10 may determine an impacton the perceived social responsibility of client 38. This determinationmay be accomplished in various ways, an example of which may include butis not limited to monitoring movement of the responsibility scoreassociated with client 38.

Once the above-described processes are performed, social platformpromotion process 10 may calculate 652 a contribution ROI experienced byclient 38, wherein the contribution ROI may numerically quantify thereturn on investment that was experienced by client 38 in response to(in this example) the $100,000 contribution to social platform 60. Forexample, social platform promotion process 10 may perform theabove-described analysis and assign a monetary value to each finding.Accordingly, social platform promotion process may:

-   -   monitor 654 convergence to landing pages related to client 38        and assign a value of $12,000 to the increase in web traffic.    -   track 656 the success of advertisement campaigns associated with        client 38 and assign a value of $15,000 to the promotional        material.    -   monitor 658 opinions on social media concerning client 38 and        assign a value of $17,000 to the positive feedback.    -   analyze 660 surveys concerning client 38 and assign a value of        $8,000 to the enhanced public opinion.    -   track 662 social impact with respect to client 38 and assign a        value of 9,000 to the enhanced responsibility score.

Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may calculate 652 acontribution ROI of 61%, as client 38 received $61,000 in benefits inresponse to a $100,000 contribution.

Gauging Campaign Success

Referring also to FIG. 14 and once the above-described contribution ismade, the client that made the contribution may be interested indetermining how successful that contribution was at bettering the publicopinion of the client.

Continuing with the above-stated example in which social platformpromotion process 10 receives 600 a $100,000 contribution for socialplatform 60 from client 38, social platform promotion process 10 mayfund 650 the social platform (e.g., social platform 60). This funding ofsocial platform 60 may occur in various ways ( as a single lump sum ormay be metered in accordance with various milestones).

As discussed above, social platform 60 may be chosen from the pluralityof prevetted social platforms (e.g., plurality of social platforms 58)defined within social platform pool 56. Further and as discussed above,social platform pool 56 may be maintained 100 by social platformpromotion process 10 (e.g., within a data structure such as storagedevice 16 coupled to computing device 12).

Social platform promotion process 10 may produce 602 promotionalmaterial 90 for the client (i.e., client 38, the CSR manager of fastfood corporation 68) concerning their contribution (i.e., $100,000) tothe social platform (e.g., social platform 60), wherein promotionalmaterial 90 is configured to positively impact a current responsibilityscore (e.g., current responsibility score 74) associated with the client(i.e., client 38, the CSR manager of fast food corporation 68). Onceproduced 602, social platform promotion process 10 may publish 604promotional material 90. Once promotional material 90 is published 604,social platform promotion process 10 may determine 700 a reaction topromotional material 90.

When determining 700 a reaction to promotional material 90, socialplatform promotion process 10 may determine 702 an internal reaction topromotional material 90 with respect to employees of (in this example)client 38. For example, social platform promotion process 10 maydetermine 702 the manner in which promotion material 90 wasreceived/perceived by the people that work at client 38, as bolsteringinternal moral with respect to the perceived social responsibility ofclient 38 may be beneficial for multiple business reasons (e.g.,attracting new employees, retaining old employees, and overall employeesatisfaction and pride).

When determining 700 a reaction to promotional material 90, socialplatform promotion process 10 may determine 704 an external reaction topromotional material 90 with respect to customers of (in this example)client 38. For example, social platform promotion process 10 maydetermine 704 the manner in which promotion material 90 wasreceived/perceived by people external to client 38, as bolsteringexternal moral with respect to the perceived social responsibility ofclient 38 may be beneficial for multiple business reasons (e.g.,attracting new customers, retaining old customers, and overall customersatisfaction and pride).

When determining 700 a reaction to promotional material 90, socialplatform promotion process 10 may:

-   -   monitor 706 convergence to landing pages related to the client;    -   monitor 708 opinions on social media concerning the promotional        material;    -   monitor 710 opinions on social media concerning the client;    -   analyze 712 surveys concerning the promotional material; and    -   analyze 714 surveys concerning the client.

Monitoring Convergence: When monitoring 706 convergence to landing pagesrelated to client 38, social platform promotion process 10 may monitorthe internet traffic on the various webpages associated with client 38.For example, an increase in web traffic on the websites that areassociated with client 38 may be indicative of a positive reaction topromotional material 90.

Promotional Material Opinions: When monitoring 708 opinions on socialmedia concerning promotional material 90, social platform promotionprocess 10 may analyze feedback posted concerning promotional material90, wherein such analysis may be performed manually or via machinelearning/artificial intelligence.

Social Media Opinions: When monitoring 710 opinions on social mediaconcerning client 38, social platform promotion process 10 may analyzefeedback posted on social media websites that are associated with client38, wherein such analysis may be performed manually or via machinelearning/artificial intelligence.

Promotional Material Surveys: When analyzing 712 surveys concerningpromotional material 90, social platform promotion process 10 mayexecute and/or analyze surveys concerning promotional material 90,wherein such analysis may be performed manually or via machinelearning/artificial intelligence.

Client Survey: When analyzing 714 surveys concerning client 38, socialplatform promotion process 10 may execute and/or analyze surveysconcerning client 38, wherein such analysis may be performed manually orvia machine learning/artificial intelligence.

Incorporation into a CRM Platform

As discussed above, the use of social platform promotion process 10 mayhave numerous beneficiaries, wherein the plurality of social platforms58 included within social platform pool 56 may benefit from the use ofsocial platform promotion process 10, in that various clients of socialplatform promotion process 10 may make contributions to the socialplatforms defined within social platform pool 56. Further and asdiscussed above, other entities may also be beneficiaries of socialplatform promotion process 10.

Further and as discussed above, there is always plenty of competition inthe business arena, wherein any tool that would result in clientslooking more favorably upon a company when it is time spend money may behighly beneficial to that company. Accordingly and as discussed above,social platform promotion process 10 may be configurable in a mannerthat would help accomplish this highly-desirable task.

Accordingly and referring also to FIGS. 15A-15B, social platformpromotion process 10 may be configured to work with/be incorporatedwithin/be a portion of/interface with a customer relationship manager(CRM) platform (e.g., CRM platform 800). Examples of CRM platform 800may include but is not limited to the Salesforce™ platform, and theMicrosoft Dynamics™ platform.

As is known in the art, a customer relationship management platform(e.g., CRM platform 800) is a software platform configured to manage acompany's interaction with current and potential customers. The customerrelationship management platform may use data analysis about acustomer's history to improve a business relationship with customer;specifically focusing on customer retention and ultimately driving salesgrowth. One aspect of the customer relationship management platform isthat the customer relationship management platform may compile data froma range of different communication channels (e.g., a customer's website,telephone, email, live chat, marketing materials and social media).Through such a customer relationship management platform, businesses maylearn more about their target audiences and how to best cater to theirneeds.

Accordingly and by configuring social platform promotion process 10 towork with/be incorporated within/be a portion of/interface with acustomer relationship manager (CRM) platform (e.g., CRM platform 800),the users of CRM platform 800 may be better able to differentiatethemselves with respect to their competitors.

As discussed above, when a company (e.g. ABC Burgers) is interested inmaking a purchase (be it an ad buy from a broadcasting company orwidgets from a widget manufacturer), sellers of services/goods (e.g.,advertising campaigns or widgets) may be interested in a platform thatprovides the seller with an edge with respect to their competition (thatis selling similar services/goods). Assume, for this particular example,that fast food corporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) wants to enter into aone million-dollar advertising campaign with a broadcasting company . .. but fast food corporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) is not sure whichbroadcasting company to choose. Accordingly, fast food corporation 68(e.g. ABC Burgers) may put out an RFP (request for proposal) 802 viaprocurement platform 804 (to be discussed below in greater detail)stating that (in this particular example) fast food corporation 68 (e.g.ABC Burgers) is interested in engaging a broadcasting company for aone-million-dollar ad campaign.

Assume that broadcasting company 88 is using CRM platform 800 to respondto RFP 802, wherein social platform promotion process 10 may beconfigured to work with/be incorporated within/be a portion of/interfacewith CRM platform 800. Accordingly and via social platform promotionprocess 10, broadcasting company 88 may prepare a proposal (e.g.,proposal 806) in response to RFP 802 that may differentiate broadcastingcompany 88 from their competition.

Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may enablebroadcasting company 88 to prepare 850 a proposal (e.g., proposal 806)for a client (e.g., fast food corporation 68) on a CRM platform (e.g.,CRM platform 800), wherein proposal 806 may identify a definedcontribution that will be made to a social platform on behalf of theclient (e.g., fast food corporation 68) if the client (e.g., fast foodcorporation 68) accepts proposal 806. For example, this definedcontribution may be a percentage of a purchase made by the client (e.g.,fast food corporation 68).

Accordingly and continuing with the above-stated example, proposal 806prepared 850 using social platform promotion process 10 on CRM platform800 by broadcasting company 88 in response to RFP 802 may stipulate thatbroadcasting company 88 agrees to contribute 10% of all advertisingcampaign dollars received (i.e., the defined contribution) to one of thesocial platforms (defined within social platform pool 56) on behalf offast food corporation 68. Therefore and due to this stipulation, if fastfood corporation 68 agrees to engage/hire broadcasting company 88 forthe $1.000,000 advertising campaign, broadcasting company 88 willcontribute 10% (i.e., $100,000) of that $1,000,000 advertising campaignto a social platform (selected from social platform pool 56) of thechoosing of fast food corporation 68.

Accordingly and through the use of social platform promotion process 10that is configured to work with/be incorporated within/be a portionof/interface with a customer relationship manager (CRM) platform (e.g.,CRM platform 800), broadcasting company 88 may prepare 850 a proposal(e.g., proposal 806) to RFP 802 that may differentiate broadcastingcompany 88 from their competition (through the inclusion of such asocial platform promotion component in their proposal). Once proposal806 is prepared 850, social platform promotion process 10 may enable (inthis example) broadcasting company 88 to submit 852 proposal 806 to theclient (e.g., fast food corporation 68).

Assume for this example that the client (e.g., fast food corporation 68)accepts proposal 806, thus allowing the client (e.g., fast foodcorporation 68) to benefit from the above-described $100,000 socialplatform contribution. Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10may enable 854 the client (e.g., fast food corporation 68) to select thesocial platform (from social platform pool 56) to which they would liketo make the above-described $100,000 social platform contribution .

Accordingly and in the manner described above, social platform promotionprocess 10 may enable the client (e.g., fast food corporation 68) tosearch the social platforms defined within social platform pool 56. Forexample and as discussed above, social platform promotion process 10 mayreceive a social platform inquiry (e.g., social platform inquiry 70)from the client (e.g., fast food corporation 68), wherein socialplatform promotion process 10 may execute the social platform inquiry(e.g., social platform inquiry 70) on social platform pool 56 togenerate a result set (e.g., result set 72), which may be provided tothe client (e.g., client 38). Result set 72 may be chosen from theplurality of prevetted social platforms (e.g., plurality of socialplatforms 58).

Assume that social platform 60 (e.g. Baja Plastics) is one of the socialplatforms defined within result set 72, wherein Baja Plastics is anenvironmental social platform that recovers water-born plastics from theocean so that such recovered plastic may be recycled. Accordingly andupon reviewing result set 72, the client (e.g., fast food corporation68) may choose to address their single-use plastics deficiency (asexplained above) and may select social platform 60 (e.g. Baja Plastics)as the social platform to which they would like to make theabove-described $100,000 social platform contribution.

As discussed above, social platform 60 may be selected from theplurality of prevetted social platforms (e.g., plurality of socialplatforms 58) defined within social platform pool 56. Further and asdiscussed above, social platform pool 56 may be maintained 100 by socialplatform promotion process 10 (e.g., within a data structure such asstorage device 16 coupled to computing device 12).

Once social platform 60 is selected by the client (e.g., fast foodcorporation 68), social platform promotion process 10 may fund 856 thesocial platform (e.g., social platform 60) with the defined contributionof $100,000. As discussed above, the funding 856 of social platform 60may occur in various ways (e.g., as a single lump sura may be metered inaccordance with various milestones).

As discussed above and when funding 856 the social platform (e.g.,social platform 60) with the defined contribution of $100,000, socialplatform promotion process 10 may fund 858 the social platform (e.g.,social platform 60) with the defined contribution of $100,000 at a grossrevenue level using one or more funding sources, examples of which mayinclude but are not limited to: a corporate social responsibility (CSR)funding source; and a sales incentive funding source.

As discussed above, funding 858 the social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60) with the defined contribution of $100,000 at a grossrevenue level (i.e., as opposed to the net-net level) results in fundingthe defined contribution (i.e., $100,000) with one or more of: pre-taxrevenue, pre-expense revenue, and pre-tax/pre-expense revenue. Asdiscussed above, when e.g. social platform 60 is funded at the net-netlevel, the quantity of funding received by the social platform isadversely impacted. Accordingly, by funding social platform 60 at thegross revenue level (be it with pre-tax revenue, pre-expense revenue orpre-tax/pre-expense revenue), the quantity of funding received by socialplatform 60 will be enhanced.

Incorporation into a Procurement Platform

Referring also to FIGS. 16A-16B, social platform promotion process 10may be configured to work with/be incorporated within/be a portionof/interface with a procurement platform (e.g., procurement platform900). Examples of procurement platform 900 may include but is notlimited to the SAP Ariba™ platform, and the Coupa™ platform.

As is known in the art, a procurement platform (e.g., procurementplatform 900) is a software platform configured to help automate thepurchasing function of organizations. Activities handled by aprocurement platform may include raising and approving purchase orders,selecting and ordering products/services, receiving/matching invoice &order, and paying of bills, thus enabling e.g., the procurementdepartment to see everything that is ordered, ensure that nothing can beordered without correct approvals, and enabling enhanced value by e.g.,combining several orders for the same type of good/service or requiringsuppliers to submit bids for the business. Accordingly, a multinationalor otherwise large organization may use a shared procurement system totake advantage of economies of scale to drive down the cost ofpurchases. One benefit for organizations using a procurement platformmay include ease of administration and potential long-term cost savings,as a single interface for procurement-related management information mayreduce the time and effort required to monitor organizational spending.Accordingly, the use of such a procurement platform may allowprocurement managers to control the vendors used by the widerorganization so that all employees may take advantage of negotiatedrates and other terms of service.

Again and for this particular example, assume that fast food corporation68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) wants to enter into a one million-dollaradvertising campaign with a broadcasting company . . . but fast foodcorporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) is not sure which broadcasting companyto choose. Further, assume that fast food corporation 68 (e.g. ABCBurgers) is using procurement platform 804 to solicit proposals withrespect to such a one million-dollar advertising campaign with abroadcasting company

Accordingly and by configuring social platform promotion process 10 towork with/be incorporated within/be a portion of/interface with aprocurement platform (e.g., procurement platform 900), the users ofprocurement platform 900 may be able to require respondents to define asocial platform contribution within any proposal that they submit.

Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may enable fast foodcorporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) to prepare 950 a request (e.g., RFP802) that solicits participant proposals on a procurement platform(e.g., procurement platform 804) stating that (in this particularexample) fast food corporation 68 (e.g. ABC Burgers) is interested inengaging a broadcasting company for a one-million-dollar ad campaign.

The request (e.g., RFP 802) may identify a defined contribution thatwill be made to a social platform on behalf of a client (e.g., fast foodcorporation 68) if the client (e.g., fast food corporation 68) accepts aparticular participant proposal. For example, this defined contributionmay be a percentage of a purchase made by the client (e.g., fast foodcorporation 68).

Accordingly and continuing with the above-stated example, RFP 802prepared 950 on procurement platform 804 by fast food corporation 68(e.g. ABC Burgers) may stipulate that all respondents to RFP 802 agreeto contribute 10% of all advertising campaign dollars received (i.e.,the defined contribution) to one of the social platforms (defined withinsocial platform pool 56) on behalf of (in this example) fast foodcorporation 68. Therefore and due to this stipulation, if fast foodcorporation 68 agrees to engage/hire a broadcasting company (e.g.,broadcasting company 88) for the $1.000,000 advertising campaign, theengaged/hired broadcasting company (e.g., broadcasting company 88) willcontribute 10% (i.e., $100,000) of that $1,000,000 advertising campaignto a social platform (selected from social platform pool 56) of thechoosing of fast food corporation 68.

Accordingly and through the use of social platform promotion process 10that is configured to work with/be incorporated within/be a portionof/interface with a procurement platform (e.g., procurement platform804), fast food corporation 68 may prepare 950 a request (e.g., RFP 802)that may require respondents to define a social platform contributionwithin any proposal that they submit. Once RFP 802 is prepared 950,social platform promotion process 10 may enable (in this example) fastfood corporation 68 to receive 952 participant proposals.

Assume for this example that the client (e.g., fast food corporation 68)receives several proposals, reviews each of the same, and acceptsproposal 806 (i.e., the proposal prepared by broadcasting company 88).Accordingly, social platform promotion process 10 may enable 954 theclient (e.g., fast food corporation 68) to select the social platform(from social platform pool 56) to which they would like to make theabove-described $100,000 social platform contribution.

Accordingly and in the manner described above, social platform promotionprocess 10 may enable the client (e.g., fast food corporation 68) tosearch the social platforms defined within social platform pool 56. Forexample and as discussed above, social platform promotion process 10 mayreceive a social platform inquiry (e.g., social platform inquiry 70)from the client (e.g., fast food corporation 68), wherein socialplatform promotion process 10 may execute the social platform inquiry(e.g., social platform inquiry 70) on social platform pool 56 togenerate a result set (e.g., result set 72), which may be provided tothe client (e.g., client 38). Result set 72 may be chosen from theplurality of prevetted social platforms (e.g., plurality of socialplatforms 58).

Again, assume that social platform 60 (e.g. Baja Plastics) is one of thesocial platforms defined within result set 72, wherein Baja Plastics isan environmental social platform that recovers water-born plastics fromthe ocean so that such recovered plastic may be recycled. Accordinglyand upon reviewing result set 72, the client (e.g., fast foodcorporation 68) may choose to address their single-use plasticsdeficiency (as explained above) and may select social platform 60 (e.g.Baja Plastics) as the social platform to which they would like to makethe above-described $100,000 social platform contribution.

As discussed above, social platform 60 may be selected from theplurality of prevetted social platforms (e.g., plurality of socialplatforms 58) defined within social platform pool 56. Further and asdiscussed above, social platform pool 56 may be maintained 100 by socialplatform promotion process 10 (e.g., within a data structure such asstorage device 16 coupled to computing device 12).

Once social platform 60 is selected by the client (e.g., fast foodcorporation 68), social platform promotion process 10 may fund 956 thesocial platform (e.g., social platform 60) with the defined contributionof $100,000. As discussed above, the funding 956 of social platorm 60may occur in various ways (e.g., as a single lump sum or may be meteredin accordance with various milestones).

As discussed above and when funding 956 the social platform (e.g.,social platform 60) with the defined contribution of $100,000, socialplatform promotion process 10 may fund 958 the social platform (e.g.,social platform 60) with the defined contribution of $100,000 at a grossrevenue level using one or more funding sources, examples of which mayinclude but are not limited to: a corporate social responsibility (CSR)funding source; and a sales incentive funding source.

As discussed above, funding 958 the social platform (e.g., socialplatform 60) with the defined contribution of $100,000 at a grossrevenue level (i.e., as opposed to the net-net level) results in fundingthe defined contribution (i.e., $100,000) with one or more of: pre-taxrevenue, pre-expense revenue, and pre-tax/pre-expense revenue. Asdiscussed above, when e.g. social platform 60 is funded at the net-netlevel, the quantity of funding received by the social platform isadversely impacted. Accordingly, by funding social platform 60 at thegross revenue level (be it with pre-tax revenue, pre-expense revenue orpre-tax/pre-expense revenue), the quantity of funding received by socialplatform 60 will be enhanced.

General

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present disclosuremay be embodied as a method, a system, or a computer program product.Accordingly, the present disclosure may take the form of an entirelyhardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodimentcombining software and hardware aspects that may all generally bereferred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore,the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program producton a computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program codeembodied in the medium.

Any suitable computer usable or computer readable medium may beutilized. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, forexample but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device,or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) ofthe computer-readable medium may include the following: an electricalconnection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, ahard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), anerasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), anoptical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), anoptical storage device, a transmission media such as those supportingthe Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device. Thecomputer-usable or computer-readable medium may also be paper or anothersuitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can beelectronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of thepaper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwiseprocessed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in acomputer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usable orcomputer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with thecomputer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband oras part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may betransmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited tothe Internet, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentdisclosure may be written in an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like. However, the computer programcode for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may also bewritten in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the“C” programming language or similar programming languages. The programcode may execute entirely on the client's computer, partly on theclient's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on theclient's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on theremote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computermay be connected to the client's computer through a local area network/awide area network/the Internet (e.g., network 14).

The present disclosure is described with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. Itwill be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/orblock diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may beprovided to a processor of a general purpose computer/special purposecomputer/other programmable data processing apparatus, such that theinstructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, create means for implementingthe functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that may direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures may illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations,and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustrations, may be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the disclosure and the practical application, and toenable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosurefor various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

A number of implementations have been described. Having thus describedthe disclosure of the present application in detail and by reference toembodiments thereof, it will be apparent that modifications andvariations are possible without departing from the scope of thedisclosure defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, executed on acomputing device, comprising: preparing a proposal for a client on a CRMplatform, wherein the proposal identifies a defined contribution thatwill be made to a social platform on behalf of the client if the clientaccepts the proposal; and submitting the proposal to the client.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the defined contributionis a percentage of a purchase made by the client.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the client accepts theproposal, the computer-implemented method further comprising: enablingthe client to select the social platform from a social platform pool;and funding the social platform with the defined contribution.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein funding the socialplatform with the defined contribution includes: funding the socialplatform with the defined contribution at a gross revenue level usingone or more funding sources.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim4 wherein the one or more funding sources includes one or more of: acorporate social responsibility (CSR) funding source; and a salesincentive funding source.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3wherein the social platform pool defines a plurality of prevetted socialplatforms.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 furthercomprising: maintaining the social platform pool.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 7 wherein the social platform poolis maintained within a data structure.
 9. A computer program productresiding on a computer readable medium having a plurality ofinstructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, causethe processor to perform operations comprising: preparing a proposal fora client on a CRM platform, wherein the proposal identifies a definedcontribution that will be made to a social platform on behalf of theclient if the client accepts the proposal; and submitting the proposalto the client.
 10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein thedefined conte is a percentage of a purchase made by the client.
 11. Thecomputer program product of claim 9 wherein the client accepts theproposal, the computer-implemented method further comprising: enablingthe client to select the social platform from a social platform pool;and funding the social platform with the defined contribution.
 12. Thecomputer program product of claim 11 wherein funding the social platformwith the defined contribution includes: funding the social platform withthe defined contribution at a gross revenue level using one or morefunding sources.
 13. The computer program product of claim 12 whereinthe one or more funding sources includes one or more of: a corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) funding source; and a sales incentivefunding source.
 14. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein thesocial platform pool defines a plurality of prevetted social platforms.15. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising:maintaining the social platform pool.
 16. The computer program productof claim 15 wherein the social platform pool is maintained within a datastructure.
 17. A computing system including a processor and memoryconfigured to perform operations comprising: preparing a proposal for aclient on a CRM platform, wherein the proposal identifies a definedcontribution that will be made to a social platform on behalf of theclient if the client accepts the proposal; and submitting the proposalto the client.
 18. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the definedcontribution is a percentage of a purchase made by the client.
 19. Thecomputing system of claim 17 wherein the client accepts the proposal,the computer-implemented method further comprising: enabling the clientto select the social platform from a social platform pool; and fundingthe social platform with the defined contribution.
 20. The computingsystem of claim 19 wherein funding the social platform with definedcontribution includes: funding the social platform with the definedcontribution at a gross revenue level using one or more funding sources.21. The computing system of claim 20 wherein the one or more fundingsources includes one or more of: a corporate social responsibility (CSR)funding source; and a sales incentive funding source.
 22. The computingsystem of claim 19 wherein the social platform pool defines a pluralityof prevetted social platforms.
 23. The computing system of claim 19further comprising: maintaining the social platform pool.
 24. Thecomputing system of claim 23 wherein the social platform pool ismaintained within a data structure.